THE
LILY AMONG THORNS
A STUDY OF THE BIBLICAL DRAMA
THE SONG OF SONGS
WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D. D.
PASTOR OF THE SHAWMUT CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS.
AND AUTHOR OF " THE MIKADO's EMPIRE"
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
(Cbe fittjemJje press, <Jram6riD{ie
Copyright, 1889,
Bv WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Catnbridge, Mass., U.S.A.
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
To
KATHARINE LYRA
MAIDEN BELOVED
WIFE CHERISHED
MOTHER HONORED
(9I6is .tituli)?
OF A FAIR PAGE IN OUR HEAVENLY FATHER'S BOOK,
COMPLETED IN JUNE, THE MONTH OF
VISION, RING, AND ALTAR
/S LOrJNGLV DEDICATED
PREFACE.
The fruits of a century of critical study of He-
brew are now within reach of all. Three gener-
ations of reverent students of text, rather than of
tradition, have revealed the Bible as literature.
The remarkable agreement in theory and result
reached, and the total wealth of old truths re-dis-
covered, are equally causes of gratitude. The anal-
ogy in the natural world has been the collateral
progress in geology and the location of earth's un-
used treasures in old and new lands. As the miner
is first to profit by the studies of the geologist, so
the first to utilize the researches of orientalists
should be ministers who are pastors and teachers
of the Word of God.
No book of the Bible has been so inaccessible
to the ordinary reader, none so walled about,
matted over, and hidden by tradition, as the Song
of Songs. This Thornrose castle of the Hebrew
world has stood for centuries like some battle-
mented tower mantled with rank growths of ivy
and all wild vines. Its external form has prompted
to innumerable conjectures as to what was within.
The great Hebraists of our century, like the
prince in Teutonic story, have not contented them-
selves with beholding the outside. Penetrating
VI PREFACE.
within, they have been charmed with a beauty be-
fore unsuspected. Instead of the garish prismatics
shed by allegories, they have enjoyed in white light
a loveliness that is ancient, intrinsic, and real.
They read in the Song of Songs a stainlessly
chaste love-poem, the epic of a woman's purity, a
satire on polygamy, lofty ethical teachings, and a
spiritual doctrine taught in dramatic form. They
find the complement to the other writings of the
Jehovah-religion, which needs no artificial and far-
fetched system of interpretation ; for good doctrine
needs no allegory.
In the company of such explorers of Israel's his-
tory and Bible truth as Herder, Eichhorn, Umbreit,
Ewald, Ginsburg, Godet, Cheyne, Farrar, Smith,
Briggs, and Daland, and indeed the majority of
modern scholars, no pastor of a Christian church
need be ashamed to stand. Yet, until the appear-
ance of the Revised Version of 1884, which de-
capitated the chapters in the English version of
their impertinent headings, and showed the poetic
and dramatic structure of the Song of Songs, the
preacher who discarded allegory seemed audacious,
if not heretical. The version of 1884 removes
danger and direful novelty, and helps grandly the
student, expositor, and ordinary reader.
The study of this book having been very helpful
to my own soul, I herein endeavor to impart freely
the blessing enjoyed. I have repressed most of
the homiletical matter used in the two courses of
sermons, preached in Schenectady (1884) and Bos-
PREFACE. Vll
ton (1889), and have been content to furnish what
is, in the main, a literary study of this, probably,
the most perfect poem in any language. The
thronging illustrations which have come to me
from biblical, far -oriental, and other literature
have been but sparingly used, in order that the
work might be as modest in size as it is slender in
scholarship.
It is no work of learning or research which is
here submitted to cold type, but only the studies of
one who enjoys the Bible as literature as well as
revelation. The key to this particular treasure-
chamber of Holy Scripture has been furnished me
by the great Hebraists. An earnest study of De-
litzsch completed my emancipation from the alle-
gorical theory. Fascinated by the riches before me,
I cast away the commentaries, and gave the spare
hours of my days and nights to the original text
and the ancient versions. These, to the sympa-
thetic student, outweigh in value the mountains of
commentary built upon them.
It remains to speak gratefully of all those teach-
ers, friends, and associates who have helped me to
enjoy and appreciate the riches of the Old Testa-
ment. First in honor, I name my instructors at
New Brunswick, N. J. : the venerable ex-President
of Rutgers College, Rev. William H. Campbell,
D. D., LL. D., from whom I learned the rudiments
of critical biblical study ; and the Rev. John De
Witt, D. D., professor of Hebrew at New Bruns-
wick, N. J., whose " Praise Songs of Israel " is, in
Vlll PREFACE.
my view, the best rendering into the English lan-
guage of the Psalms. To my former parishioner,
the late Tayler Lewis, LL. D., whose writings are
ever stimulating and helpful ; to Professor Charles
A. Briggs, D, D., of Union Theological Seminary,
whose lectures on Hebrew Literature so enriched
my mind and heart ; to Rev. William C. Daland,
a fellow-alumnus of Union Seminary, whose valu-
able monograph on the Song of Songs (Leonards-
ville, N. Y,, 1888) is so full of fine scholarship and
rich suggestion ; to Rev. S. M. Jackson, editor of
the " Concise Dictionary of Religious Knowledge,"
who kept me informed as to the latest bibliography
of the subject ; and to Messrs. M. F. Dickinson,
Jr., Charles H. Allen, and S. T. Snow, of Boston,
for special interest in the publication of this little
book, I return my sincere and hearty thanks. In
the two congregations I have had the honor to
serve have been many men and women who have
been heartily appreciative of every endeavor of
their pastor to unfold to them the riches of the
Bible ; their kind words I gratefully remember.
Above all, thanks to the Heavenly Father for
the health and strength enjoyed during the delight-
ful study of the fair page of inspiration, of which
this little book is an unworthy exposition.
In His Name, it is sent forth.
W. E. G.
Saturday Evening,
New ember 2, i88g.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
History and Criticism,
CHAPTER I.
Theory and Interpretation ii
CHAPTER II.
Life and Times of King Solomon 27
CHAPTER III.
Historic Characters in the Poem 46
CHAPTER IV. ^
Poetic Background of the Canticle 64
CHAPTER V.
Dramatic Structure of the Song of Songs . . 83
CHAPTER VI.
History of the Book itself 106
PART II.
The Text in the Revised Version . . . .129
X CONTENTS.
PART III.
Studies and Comments.
Act I., Scene I. The Vineyard Girl in the
Ring's Harem. Chapter I. i-8 152
Act I., Scene II. The Lily among Thorns. Chap-
ter I. 8-II. 7 162
Act II., Scene I. The Dove in the Cleft of
THE Rocks. Chapter II. 8-17 174
Act II., Scene II. In Dream-Land. Chapter
III. 1-5 182
Act III., Scene I. The Royal Procession. Chap-
ter III. 6-11 190
Act III., Scene II. Love-Making in the Palace.
Chapter IV. 1-5, 7 199
Act III., Scene III. The Garden of Spices.
Chapter IV. 8-V. i 208
Act III., Scene IV. The Waking Heart. Chap-
ter V. 2-8 216
Act IV., Scene I. The Beloved and his Charms.
Chapter V. 9-VI. 3 223
Act IV., Scene II. Compared with Princesses.
Chapter VI. 4-10 229
Act IV., Scene III. The Dance of Mahanaim
Chapter VII. 1-7 236
Act IV., Scene IV. The Impregnable Fortress.
Chapter VII. 8-VIII. 4 248
Act v., Scene I. The Union of the Lovers.
Ch.apter VIII. c;-7 256
Act v., ScEiME II. The Virgin Fortress and the
Vineyards. Chapter VIII. 8-14 264
THE LILY AMONG THORNS.
PART I.
HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
CHAPTER I.
THEORY AND INTERPRETATION.
" No man also having drunk old wine,
straightway desireth new, for he saith, The
old is better." In the study of the master-
pieces of art, in painting, poetry, and architec-
ture, the old work of master hands seems to
the purged eye of the student more august
and lovely than the more recent productions
which imitate or cover up the old. The works
of the golden age are better than the weaker
or more garish fabrics of debased taste. Even
when the earlier poem, picture, statue, or fa-
gade seems simple, nay plain, it may have to
the eye of the critic a richer beauty than the
more florid work of later days when taste was
less severe, or originality had run out. When,
12 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
under a cheap oil painting of a local artist of
untrained powers, one discovers on the scraped
canvas a head of the virgin by Raphael or
Correggio, or back of the diluted lines of a
plagiarist one recalls the simpler, grander
verse of Milton or Herrick, or from a white-
washed renovation there is revealed a superb
carving, who does not prefer the original to its
copy ?
If underneath some monkish or popish le-
gend written on parchment there be brought to
resurrection a Codex of St. Matthew or a for-
gotten fragment of the New Testament, who
would not have rather the simple Scripture
than all the lying lives of the saints, or the
priests' rubbish about winking virgins or dried
blood turning to liquid again ? In art, in ar-
chitecture, in religion, give us the original, the
strong, the best, the true.
If you wish a photograph to flatter your
vanity, to conceal your age, to compete with
actresses and professional beauties, then bid
the artist soften the lines, erase all the wrin-
kles, touch up and tone down the negative, un-
til the printed picture shall be a fancy portrait
of nobody in particular, and of yourself only
in a shadowy sense. But do you want truth,
character, life, manliness, a face on which his-
tory and experience are graven .-' Then let the
THEORY AND INTERPRETATION. 1 3
photograph be but slightly touched. As Oliver
Cromwell did, put the wart in, and let the
rugged lines remain. Fleeting taste or tem-
porary fashion changes the face, the figure,
the dress. So let it be in dry goods, groceries,
drugs, and show-case pictures ; but from truth,
especially truth in the Word of God, keep off
the improver's touches from the negative.
Away with dye and wigs and crimps from the
hair, paint from the cheek, patches from the
face, pads and shams from the limbs, and let
us see God's daughter, Truth, as she is, beau-
tiful in her simplicity, and " when unadorned,
adorned the most." The perfectly beautiful
needs no adorning.
In such a spirit, let us study that portion of
our Heavenly Father's book which treats of
human love, "Solomon's Song," so-called, or,
as its own title is, "The Song of Songs." We
believe in the ancient, and not the modern
interpretation of it, and shall study it as an
untouched picture, as an ancient work. Peo-
ple have made out of it a stumbling-block,
have been scandalized even at its being in the
Holy Bible, Some read it as bare prose, as
though it were a newspaper column. Others
take it in fragments, without beginning, devel-
opment, or end, and all as literally as if it were
a grocer's bill or a landlord's receipt. Others
14 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
again make it, even to every word and detail,
an allegory of Christ and the church; and,
' following the chapter headings of the unre-
vised version, read into it a thousand ideas
and conceits foreign to the mind of the writer ;
while some kindle the flames of lust with fire
sent down from heaven !
Christian people look askance at this book,
because as the commentator, Matthew Henry,
intimates, with more or less truth, it is so
unlike the other books in the Old or New Tes-
tament ; the name of God is not found in it ;
it is never quoted by Christ or the apostles ;
we do not find in it any expressions of natural
religion or pious devotion ; nor is there in it
any vision, miracle, or mark of immediate in-
spiration ; and, finally, it is a flower from
which those with carnal minds and corrupt
affections are likely to extract poison.
Some of the statements which we have
condensed are true, some not. The Song of
Songs is not, indeed, spoken of nor quoted in
the New Testament, but it is full of religion,
exalted sentiment, chaste and pure ideas. The
poem is suffused with ethical teaching of the
best kind, enforcing an example for us to fol-
low. To crown all, the name of God is in it,
and linked to the master passion which is the
burden of the song. We propose to extract
THEORY AND INTERPRETATION. 15
honey and not poison from this Shemitic
flower. Tiiis book should be expounded by
Christian ministers in order to vindicate its
pure character, and in expository discourse to
unfold " the whole counsel of God " as com-
prised in the Bible, which enshrines the Word
of God to man, and which is not to be neg-
lected in any part.
When the science of biblical criticism was
in its infancy, and the large mass of unchal-
lenged tradition inherited from the rabbis
still burdened the Christian church, such
statements as those of Matthew Henry could
be written and accepted ; and this, notwith-
standing such assertions bring as much odium
upon the Bible as the sneers of infidels and
the destructive criticisms of Renan, who, with
all his learning, is the chief vulgarizer of holy
things.
As matter of fact, The Song of Songs is
the completion, the crowning work of inspired
Hebrew wisdom. We find in the centre of
the English Old Testament, the part usually
called the Poetical, which is the third of the
four great divisions of Law, History, Poetry,
and Prophecy, a collection of five books which
may be called the Code of Wisdom. These
five books. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
and the Song of Songs, do not treat of events,
1 6 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
laws, chronicles, and regulations, of concrete
history or of prophecy, but of the conduct of
life. Their purpose is didactic and stimulating
to all who would " set righteousness in the
earth." They are characterized by the word
chokma, meaning wisdom. They have the
form of dialogue, drama, lyrics, apothegms,
soliloquy and cantata, or drama. They are
nearest to our idea of pure literature, the liter-
ature of power, rather than the literature of
knowledge. With this group of poetical books
we naturally associate Ruth and Lamentations,
for these also treat of the right way to live, as
well as to believe and worship.
The authors of the book of Job would teach
us how "to suffer and be strong;" the Psalm-
ists how to pray and praise ; the Proverbists,
inculcating wisdom and discipline, how, under
all circumstances, to do the square thing, ac-
cording to the plumb line of the eternities ; the
Preacher how to enjoy aright the good things
of God ; while the poet of the Canticle shows
us how to love.
Surely this divine art is a most vital matter.
Since God is love, we are not to love apart
from Him, nor allow our affections to twine
hopelessly around what will separate us from
Him. We are even in our earthly loves to
remain unshakably loyal to our God. Surely
THEORY AND INTERPRETATION. 1/
in our Heavenly Father's Book may we not,
on some pages, learn the supreme art of true
and pure love ?
It is our belief that we may thus learn from
one who, amid all that is most tempting to a
woman, remains at once immutably faithful
to Jehovah and to the man to whom she
plighted her troth in humble life. Our model
and exemplar is this heroine in the Song of
Songs. As Job was tried in the things most
tempting to the mind of man and learned to
suffer nobly, as Joseph — " the pure moon of
Canaan," as the Persians call him — was
tempted as to the flesh, and resisting gladly
endured unjust imprisonment, so the Shula-
mite, " faithful found among the faithless,"
came out unscathed from those allurements
which offered most to a young girl. In one
sense, Joseph, Job, and the Shulamite were
types of Him who loved to contrast the lily
and Solomon, and who in the desert foiled the
tempter who assaulted the flesh, the intellect, ]
and the soul of the Son of Man in vain.
We read in this book the handwriting of
God affixing his signature of reprobation upon
the sins of Solomon, and upon all human lust.
We behold in the very heart of the Bible a
pure shrine of affection on which God has set
his own seal and name.
1 8 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
People are not to blame if they read the
book wrongly, when it has never been ex-
plained to them. Once understood properly,
all objections against it fall to the ground. If
interpreted according to the popular idea,
that the Canticle was written by Solomon, and
that in it he represents himself as a lover and
bridegroom, then the book is an indorsement
of polygamy, or at least does not rebuke it.
Whereas we hold that the Canticle is an im-
plicit condemnation of the polygamous old
king, and a paean in praise of virtue and the
love of one man to one woman.
We believe of this book what is said of all
the Bible : " Every scripture inspired of God
is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction which is in right-
eousness : that the man of God may be com-
plete, furnished completely unto every good
work."
Perhaps we may find that this exquisite
love-poem furnishes us to one particular good
work such as no other book in the Bible does.
The right understanding of it makes the Old
Testament complete. The book of Proverbs
gives us in precept the image of " a perfect
woman nobly planned," the Song of Songs
gives her in example. This is the Bible
method, to unite history and philosophy.
THEORY AND INTERPRETATION. 1 9
The theory of interpretation upon which we
proceed, and which we hold is the ancient one,
is that the Canticle is a cantata or series of
songs making a dramatic unity, celebrating
the triumph of virtue over temptation, and
illustrating the contrast between virtuous and
sensual love, praising the former and stigma-
tizing the latter. With the almost overwhelm-
ing majority of modern critical scholars, we
think that Solomon is not the author of it, but
that it was composed after his death, probably
by an Ephraimite or northern poet who de-
scribes, in character sketches, the ladies of
the royal harem in Jerusalem, and a beautiful
maiden from the North, a simple, rustic girl
from the vineyards, a Shulamite. The poem
contrasts the pure simplicity of Galilean coun-
try life with the corrupt splendor of the court
of Solomon.
The king tries to win the maiden's love, and
to place her in his harem, with the other
court ladies or, as they are called, " daughters
of Jerusalem."
The chief speakers in this cantata are Sol-
omon, the Shulamite, her "beloved" {dod)
who is a shepherd, and the court ladies. The
Shulamite is betrothed to a young mountain-
eer of her country, and remains faithful to him
while away from her home. Notwithstanding
20 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
all the blandishments of King Solomon, the
glittering allurements of palace, city, and
court life, and of wealth, fame, and dazzling
glory, even the offer of queenship, she re-
mains unflinchingly loyal to her beloved.
Twenty-five times is he addressed or referred
to in the poem.
The court ladies second Solomon's efforts,
either by banter or jeers ; but this country
lass, this wild flower of Sharon, this lily among
thorns, ever remembers her lover. She falls
into reminiscence, longing, and home - sick-
ness, and though polite and obedient to royal
behests, clings to her betrothed faithfully,
remaining chaste, pure, undazzled and un-
bought, crying out in every temptation, " my
beloved is mine, and I am his," and in every
victory, " I adjure you, O daughters of Jeru-
salem, by the roes and by the hinds of the
field, that ye stir not up nor awaken love
{ahabah), until it please." That love must rise
spontaneously, and be true, is the supreme
lesson of this divinely inspired drama.
Finally, at the end of the long trial, having
won the victory, she cries out in exultant
song, " Love {ahabah) is as strong as death,
its intensest passion unyielding as Sheol, the
coals thereof are as outflashing fire, a light-
ning of the Eternal. Many waters cannot
THEORY AND INTERPRETATIOxV. 21
quench love. {ahabaJi) nor the floods drown it,
and if a man [Solomon] were to give all the
substance of his house for my love, it would
utterly be contemned."
With this radiant apex of victory to virtue,
and a crown to constancy, the nature of the
eternal romance of true love is set forth, its
seat and birthplace in the bosom of God, who
ordains one man to love one woman in holy
wedlock, and abhors lust, polygamy, and all
unfaithfulness.
This interpretation, founded not on uncer-
tain tradition, and on far-fetched allegory
which the Bible gives no hint of, is based on
the reading and scrutiny of the language of
the book itself, the background of history as
given in the Bible, and the study of the great
Hebraists of this, the greatest century of
Shemitic learning.
As the ancient painting of the master-
artist found on the wall under the whitewash,
or the true scripture text beneath a palimp-
sest, or a genuine antique fragment rather
than a tinkered classic statue, or an un-
touched photograph instead of a smoothed-
off negative from which all individuality has
been eliminated, are preferred to their copies,
so we prefer the simple narrative of this an-
cient poem, without the allegories discovered
22 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
in it in later times. We believe the literal
interpretation, simpler, truer, more biblical
and more helpful for this life of ours. There
is not a more chastely moral book in the whole
Bible than this Song of Songs, nor one whose
tone and example are more befitting our day
and country, nor one that sweeps with more
bracing atmosphere, or searches with more
purifying gales the plague spots and malaria
in our own social life. The purest maiden
may read it without danger to mind or heart,
for it is as pure as guileless maidenhood itself.
To the heavenly simplicity of its teachings,
and to its detailed pictures, its music, and
scenery and poetry, let us hie in company,
thankful to God for so beautiful and inspired
a poem. We believe it speaks to us with the
sanction of inspiration.
Some may not accept the interpretation
herein set forth by modern scholars because
they deem it too commonplace for Holy Scrip-
ture. Others will prefer the mediaeval view
because it is somewhat old, albeit there is not
a scintilla of Bible proof, or even evidence in
its behalf. Others will judge that we have
degraded Solomon, and spoken too lightly of
one who in certain points was a type of Christ,
an inspired writer, who according to late Jew-
ish tradition was the author of certain books
THEORY AND INTERPRETATION. 23
of the Bible, and who was a wise, dignified,
and learned judge, law-giver, and king. To
save his reputation, many will prefer to read
into Canticles the fanciful notions of the Tal-
mudists and writers of the Apocrypha. Oth-
ers prefer to shun or prohibit the book as
something dangerous for young people, and at
the best a scandalous and suspicious book,
that is found among the Holy Scriptures, very
much as Saul was discovered among the
prophets, or Satan among the sons of God.
Some orthodox Christians, who hold the the-
ory of interpretation not taught in the Bible,
but thought necessary and God -honoring,
would, if they could, keep " Solomon's Song "
under lock and key, or surround it with the
barbed wire of prohibition until adult age be
reached. This was the course advised by the
rabbis, who advised young men not to read it
until thirty years of age. Yet even the good
people who deprecate its perusal by the
young must remember that the rabbis forbade
it to immature readers, not because of any
supposable harm to their morals, but rather
lest they should not understand it correctly ;
i. e.y according to their particular and tempo-
rary orthodoxy.
It is remarkable, also, that the Turks at
Constantinople, whose custom-house is under
24 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
the shadow of the sultan's harem, refused to
admit certain books imported by the Amer-
ican Tract Society. Why ? Because these
books from Christian America — Christian
except in Utah — contained criticisms upon
Solomon, whose polygamous example the Mo-
hammedans as well as our Mormons follow to
this day. This the Turks did, notwithstanding
there is no trace of justification in the Old
Testament of the Mohammedan treatment of
woman. It might be well for Christians, too
anxious to save Solomon's reputation, not to
follow the example of the Turks.
We appeal from Solomon the sensualist to
Solomon the pure ; from the king with his
harem of a thousand women to the young
prince at Shechem praying for divine wisdom,
or as the leader of Israel in rapt communion
with God at the dedication of the temple ;
from the gray - headed sinner who forgot
Jehovah to the wise man who in consecrated
and inspired manhood coined proverbs, and
possibly penned other small portions of Holy
Writ. It is not the Solomon of early life and
middle age, but only the blackslider and the
recreant voluptuary that we hold up to de-
served execration.
The action of Solomon in introducing prof-
ligacy and idolatry in Israel was as the open-
THEORY AND INTERPRETATION. 2$
ing of the floodgates of iniquity. From his
time, or immediately after his death, dates the
general introduction of the da;na or mounds
on which the worship of Astarte was cele-
brated. Henceforth the "high-places," or
Asherah, so often spoken of in the historical
books, became strongholds for the propagation
of a vile idolatry joined to sensualism. Hith-
erto idol-worship had been accidental and occa-
sional ; from Solomon's time until the Baby-
lonian captivity it became rampant and hostile.
It meant war to the death against the religion
of Jehovah. The prophets, sooner than the
people, discerned this truth, and with fiery
zeal for God strove to make the fact patent to
all. With more and more seductiveness ot
manner, idolatry spread through the masses,
until in Elijah's time Israel was sunk low in-
deed.
For the state of things which we read of in
times not far distant from Solomon, and for
the crowds of " strange women," with the con-
sequent looseness of public morals, as revealed
in the book of Proverbs and in the prophetic
writings, Solomon, more than any other one
man in Hebrew history, is distinctly respon-
sible.
That the justness of the view and interpre-
tation of this book of the Bible as held by
26 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
the great modern Hebraists may be made ap-
parent, let us look at Solomon through the
perspective of history. We shall glance at
the development of the nation as sketched in
the writings of the Hebrew historians, and
from them learn what mark the third and last
sovereign of the united kingdom made. By a
study of the life and times of the grand mon-
arch, and of the characters, the artistic form,
and literary features of this great " lay of the
Hebrew troubadour," we may all the more
appreciate its exquisite beauty. Let us then
give attention to a few introductory chapters.
CHAPTER 11.
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON.
A THOUSAND years are but as yesterday in
the sight of God. A millennium and a moment
are alike to Him. He makes a covenant with
man, and though it takes ten centuries to fulfill
it, yet God is not slack nor forgetful concern-
ing his promises. For while He keeps man
waiting He educates him and advances the
race.
He called Abraham out of the Chaldees,
bidding him to leave home and set his face
westward. The father of the faithful never
owned the land promised him, but lived in
tents, an heir, not a possessor. Faith instead
of fee-simple was his reward. Yet when he
died he bequeathed, not an estate of broad
acres, with the empty name of a nobody and
an example of selfishness, but a deathless name
and a pattern of faith, which even to-day are
beacon lights of progress and aspiration. Abra-
ham is the model of character to three civili-
zations.
Neither Isaac nor Jacob ever possessed the
28 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
promised land, and with four hundred years of
captivity in Egypt, it seemed as though Jeho-
vah had forgotten his covenant.
Even after Moses' deliverance, and Joshua's
conquest, the divine measure of promise was
not fulfilled, for all around Israel were power-
ful enemies. It was not until nearly a thou-
sand years had flown, and David's victories had
been won, that the word of the Lord to Abra-
ham seemed to be accomplished in the reign of
his (David's) son Solomon ; then the sceptre of
the heirs of Abraham extended from Phoenicia
to Egypt, and from Palmyra to the Mediterra-
nean.
During all these centuries the Almighty was
educating his elect people, training the family
into a tribe, the tribe into a people, and the
people into a nation, with a land and a purpose.
No longer, from David's time on, was God's
covenant with one old man, nor with a family
or clan, nor with a body of slaves, nor a rabble
of freedmen, nor even with groups of petty
principalities, or turbulent clan-like republics ;
but the flower of his fulfilled promise was given
to a united, intelligent commonwealth, a union
of hearts and homes, with one language, one
blood, one experience, and one hope. Slowly,
painfully, but at last gloriously, the seed sown
in Abraham ripened in Solomon.
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 29
It was under this third king that the Hebrew
monarchy rose to the zenith of national splen-
dor. Wealth and power in all departments of
human achievement were greater than at any
epoch in Hebrew history before.
Art, science, literature, inventions, com-
merce, and luxury flourished. Jerusalem, once
merely the Philistine fortress of Jebus, con-
taining a collection of mud huts or wooden
dwellings, was made a splendid capital in brick
and marble, full of palaces and public edifices,
amid which the temple glistened in lordly ma-
jesty.
Cities were built in favored places, and towns
along the caravan routes over the desert. Sea-
ports were established, from which white-
winged ships flew to foreign coasts, westward
especially to Italy and Spain, and eastward to
India and to the Golden Chersonese. The
peculiar phrase, " the ends of the earth," was
coined in the Solomonic era.
The ships of the desert and the navy on the
deep brought back the wonders of the tropics
and the treasures of " the ends of the earth " to
enliven the monotony of Palestinian life. Ivory
for the palaces and throne, apes a^nd peacocks
for the garden, with all kinds of oriental stuffs,
perfumes, and spices, were imported, — their
names standing in Tamil and Chinese on the
30 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Hebrew page of the Bible. A striking addi-
tion to the fauna of the country, having mani-
fold and far-reaching influence, was the intro-
duction of the horse from Egypt. Great works
of engineering and fortification were planned,
the rocks were tunneled, and aqueducts built
above and below ground.
Some of the stones with the Phoenician ma-
son's marks in red paint, as fresh as if laid on
yesterday, and tablets erected by Solomon's
contractors and engineers, or carved on the
rock by his workmen, have been dug up of late.
Just as one of the first uses of lightning har-
nessed to the telegraph wire was to catch
thieves, so the tablets of this age or later have
served, among other uses, to stamp the bogus
Deuteronomy manuscripts of the antiquarian
peddler Shapira and his ilk as forgeries.
Very few relics of Hebrew antiquity before
the time of David, except sepulchres and wells,
have come down intact to us ; but the actual
work and material of Solomon's reservoirs, the
beveled stones of the temple-foundation, frag-
ments of piers and arches in Jerusalem, and the
ruins of Baalbec, still remain as mute witnesses
of his glory.
It is first also in Solomon's time that we
see clearly the beautiful things of earth joined
to the service of religion, and worship en-
LIFE AMD TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 3 1
shrined in fitting architecture. The pillars of
Jachin and Boaz, probably named after young
sons of Solomon, possibly imitating the pillars
of Hercules, with their strength of bronze and
their beauty of carved lily work, typify the
union of grace and simplicity, and teach us
that it becomes us to be winsome in our ways
as well as strict in our character, that it is
right to unite the manners of a gentleman to
the sturdiness of a Puritan, and that it is a
good thing to be civilized as well as to be
saved.
The development of political ability, defen-
sive science, and national prosperity also kept
pace with progress along other lines. Gov-
ernment was simplified by dividing functions
and centralizing power. The military art was
improved. Cavalry was added to the other
arms of the service. Twelve thousand horses
and riders furnished new sights to the Israel-
ites ; for in David's time, and before, the na-
tional dignitaries rode on mules.
Now the streets of Jerusalem were noisy
with the ceaseless clatter of hoofs and the roll
of three-horsed chariots. A procession of the
royal life-guards, composed of the flower of
David's veterans, as it moved through the
country accompanying the state-carriage, was
everywhere a sight for the people, and drew
32 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
out crowds to witness the superb spectacle.
As when the Prince of Wales entered Beirut
in Syria, a few years ago, the municipal of-
ficers burnt heaps of costly incense to make
clouds of perfume, so Solomon's train moved
from his country-seat at En-gedi up to Jeru-
salem, the capital, amid an atmosphere murky
but delicious with myrrh and frankincense.
Riding in his palanquin, he was surrounded
by his mounted life-guards with their drawn
swords flashing, hilts at the thighs, blades at
ear and shoulder. Gorgeous beyond descrip-
tion was his traveling litter or palanquin.
Who were these body-guards of the Hebrew
emperor .-' They are over and over again
spoken of as " David's mighty men " or he-
roes. In the original records they are called
Gibborim. A glance at their history may be
interesting.
King David, a man of war, had organized
a disciplined army, which in time of peace
had melted away again, the soldiers returning
to the pursuits of peace. The nucleus of the
standing army, however, that remained was a
body of foreign mercenaries, like the Swiss
guard of the kings of France, or the Christian
janizaries of the Turkish sultan. These faith-
ful veterans had stood by him in that awful
day of the rebellion of Absalom. When the
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 33
king was driven out of Jerusalem, this body-
guard, composed largely of Cherethites, or
Cretans, Pelethites, and other foreigners, un-
der captains Joab and Benaiah, practically
crushed the insurrection and kept the govern-
ment in place.
These veterans of many wars are frequently
referred to in Kings, Chronicles, and the
Song of Songs. Some of the oldest of them
may have been David's comrajJes, when he
himself was an outlaw living among the Phil-
istines, since the name Peleth or Pelethite is
probably a contraction for Philistine. Some
were from the island of Crete in the Mediter-
ranean. It would be no more remarkable in
the Hebrew emperor to keep Philistines in his
pay than for the Pope and Roman Catholic
kings of France to be served by the Swiss
guards, who were often republicans in politics
and Protestant in faith.
In addition to these household troops or the
imperial guard, and to the militia, serving as
garrison relays, there were the city watchmen,
who may be called the metropolitan police of
Jerusalem. These night patrols, who were
expected always to "keep the city," were evi-
dently a body of vigilant and faithful men,
who not only protected good citizens against
thieves, but were objects of awe to rustics and
visitors.
34 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
In a word, the organization of the Hebrew
Empire was military, with a nucleus of foreign
mercenaries, who were professional soldiers of
fortune. These were only too ready to per-
form the king's behests, and unless Samuel
prophesied falsely, and all history is a mistake,
the Gibborim, despite their usefulness, were a
menace to the liberties of Israel.
As for the subjects of King Solomon, we
find that they were far from being a homo-
geneous people. The free-born Israelites, de-
scendants of the conquerors, who came in at
the conquest under Joshua, stood first in civil
rank and privileges after the imperial family.
Next below these were the native Canaanites,
more or less loyal to the government of Israel.
They constituted a numerous and important
body of tributary vassals who needed to be
wisely dealt with.
The strangers from Egypt and surround-
ing countries, but most especially from Phoe-
nicia, whose people spoke nearly the same
language as Hebrew, were merchants, artists,
decorators, and other skilled mechanics em-
ployed on the public works, sailors and cara-
van-men. They formed a special class under
the king's protection, while they were tempo-
rarily sojourning at the ports and cities, at-
tracted by trade and new enterprises requiring
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 35
technical knowledge. They formed in Jeru-
salem a little community by themselves known
as Maktesh, or the Phoenician quarter, which
may have been in the deep ravine between
Zion and Moriah (Zeph. i. 11).
Beneath these three classes of the people
were numbers of slaves on whom fell the bur-
den of constant and unrequited toil. Whether
prisoners captured in war, or those born in
servitude, or sold for poverty or debt, the
slave's lot was but little if any easier under
Hebrew than under Roman or American op-
pression.
In addition to this civic ambition, Solomon
was smitten with the fever of architecture,
which is ever one of the most expensive of a
king's ambitions, as the people who must pay
the bills soon discover. This passion for
building was in addition to that for the ships
which, built and manned by Phoenician sailors,
he sent to the ends of the seas, eastward to
the Asian peninsulas, and westward to Tar-
shish in Spain. For the spoil they brought,
he erected fitting edifices. He had botanic
gardens and menageries, full of rare animals,
plants, and the substances for decoration, so
numerously mentioned in the Song of Songs.
In order to build and furnish his palaces,
harems, and public buildings, .the king made
36 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
requisitions of forced labor from Israel, and
sent the gangs to cut down forests, to float the
timber by sea from Phoenicia to Joppa, and to
make overland transport of the logs to Jeru-
salem. He blasted and cut stone in quarries,
and dug conduits and watercourses.
Solomon had the reputation of building the
first temple to Jehovah, and of organizing
elaborate services and sacrifices. Yet the
temple of Solomon, as any one can see who
studies the dimensions, was a comparatively
small edifice. There are many buildings in
Europe and America much larger than the
marble tent which he pitched to the glory of
Jehovah in Jerusalem. Rightly did Justinian
cry out when St. Sophia was finished, " I have
surpassed thee, O Solomon." The Jerusalem
temple was, in the main, a noble specimen of
Phoenician art. While seven years were occu-
pied in completing the temple, the king was
fifteen years in building his own house. What
he did for the Lord was only a fraction as
compared with what he did for himself. Nearly
all the masonry, and decorative art-work, down
to this epoch, was done by Phoenician artists
while Solomon lived. When Captain Warren,
the excavator in the Jerusalem which belongs
to Turkey, sunk his shaft beneath the layers
and rubbish of twenty-eight centuries to get
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 7,7
at the rock-foundation of Solomon's temple, he
found the quarry marks of the Phoenician stone-
cutters. The lowest stones of all bear inscrip-
tions of the men whose ancestors are reputed
to have given the western world alphabets.
The other famous buildings in the capital city
were the House of the Forest of Lebanon —
so-called because of its hall of many columns,
on which were hung the golden shields, and-
targets, and battle trophies captured in David's
wars. The Hall of Judgment was another
renowned structure, wainscoted with cedar
wood, and in popular phrase called the King's
Gate or Sublime Porte, the title sometimes
bestowed on the sovereign ; just as in Egypt,
Japan, and Turkey of to-day, Pharaoh, Mikado,
or the Sublime Porte in each case means the
Grand Gate, that is, the place where judicial
decisions were given.
Of the many buildings devoted to the harem,
or zenana, the finest was doubtless for the
principal or Egyptian wife. In addition to the
edifices in the capital city, there were in differ-
ent parts of the country summer palaces, vil-
las, hunting lodges, gardens, fish-ponds, towers,
cavalry quarters, stables, and chariot-houses.
There were also caravansaries on the main
road, trading stations, fortresses, and vine-
yards, all under the direct imperial supervis-
ion.
3 8 Ills TOR Y and' criticism.
It must, however, never be forgotten that
all this was extravagance, and unjustifiable
extravagance. It was the same old story of a
hard-working father who toils during his life-
time to heap up riches, not knowing who shall
gather them, succeeded by a spendthrift son
who enjoys and squanders. These were the
flush times of expansion, after long and suc-
cessful wars, when things were, so to speak, on
a paper-money basis. Speculation was rife, and
the inevitable shrinkage had to come. Though
some of Solomon's schemes were successful
enterprises yielding revenue, most of them
were matters of daily expense, and the bur-
den of sustaining these things fell on the peo-
ple, who were taxed and bled beyond the limit
of human patience. So, in accordance with
all history, or divine Providence — as we will
— as soon as the iron hand of Solomon was
removed by death, the people petitioned Reho-
boam to ease the crushing burden of taxes in
money and levies of forced labor.
The new king took the advice of the youth
about his court instead of the warnings of the
old men. Then the people were goaded into
rebellion, and ten tribes went into secession, set
up a northern confederacy, and David's king-
dom was split in twain. The results were
gradual alienation in both politics and religion.
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 39
and in language the swamping of Hebrew by
the Aramaic.
There was no bloodshed except in one no-
table instance. Just as after the American
civil war all were forgiven, except the keeper
of the Andersonville prison, who was hanged
for his personal cruelties, so no "man in Israel
had to die, except one. The name of this es-
pecial culprit was Adoniram, the head superin-
tendent of the forced labor. He alone was
murdered, thus paying for his cruelties by his
life.
In addition to the historical books of Israel,
the poem of " Solomon's Song," so called,
opens wide windows of light upon the days
of Hebrew imperialism, and shows how the
luxury and sensualism of Solomon and his
favorites in the palaces of the capital meant
poverty and distress among the people. For
the few who enjoyed, there were unpaid labor
and cruelty for the many oppressed.
David's successor, as the Bible represents
him, was somewhat different from the Solo-
mon of unproved and baseless tradition. He
is the typical "wise man" of Jewish tradition
and oriental exaggeration whence our nursery
and Sunday-school literature has liberally bor-
rowed. He is believed by many to have been
the author of a considerable portion of the
40 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Holy Scriptures. The evidence for this impres-
sion is summed up in the three titles of the
books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of
Songs, these titles or portions of them being
from authors other than Solomon, or added
long afterwards. The voice of modern schol-
arship is almost unanimously against late tra-
dition, as indeed the text of the Bible itself
seems to be. The common phrase, " the un-
broken testimony of all antiquity," means the
inherited and usually unexamined traditions
of Jews who lived long after the epoch of
Solomon.
The biblical basis of the popular notion of
Solomon's literary career lies in the single
verse of i Kings iv. 32, which says not one
word about writing or literary composition,
" he spake three thousand proverbs : and his
songs were a thousand and five."
There is no hint here or elsewhere in the
Scriptures that these songs were of a sacred,
much less of an inspired nature, or that they
were committed to writing. He spoke prov-
erbs or wise sayings, which in number ex-
ceed several times over the entire collection of
the authors who are represented in the book
of Proverbs. None of the Psalms, though
those numbered Ixxii. and cxxvii. bear his
name in the titles added by editors in later
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 4 1
times, is certainly from Solomon's pen or lips ;
nor is it probable that he had anything to
do with the Canticle. He encouraged learn-
ing, and gathered men of culture and erudi-
tion about his court ; and under him began
the age of Hebrew philosophy and the wis-
dom-literature, which later blossomed in those
deathless classics of Israel which have sur-
vived the wrecks of time. Yet it is more
than probable that one who spent his life as
Solomon did, and stained his soul with so
many habitual sins, had very little to do with
the making of our Heavenly Father's book.
The Bible pictures the third king of the He-
brews not as a psalmist, scribe, poet, or
prophet, but as an ambitious man, a builder,
a trafficker, and above all an imitator of Pha-
raoh and the kings and courts of the nations
around him. He was fond of display and
magnificence ; he was brilliant, witty, wise,
learned ; but not in his mature middle life and
premature old age eminent as a spiritual man,
or one who, like David with all his sins, was
" a man after God's own heart."
It is almost certain that Solomon did not
write either Ecclesiastes or the Song of Songs.
His reputation as an author rests, as we have
shown, chiefly upon superscriptions added af-
ter the Babylonian captivity to certain books
42 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
or parts of books in the canon, upon apoc-
ryphal writings, and upon belated tradition.
The Bible text seems to be silent upon the
subject on which legend and popular notion
are so voluminous. Among the Hebrews he
stood as the representative of gnomic wisdom,
and had a high reputation as a judge, but his
profligacy, tyranny, and idolatry impressed the
prophets and inspired writers more than his
wisdom, literary power, or supposed inspira-
tion. Neither Jesus nor apostle, prophet, poet,
or reformer quotes word or writing which he
attributes to Solomon. Except in the books
of Kings, which reveal his history ; the post-
exilic Chronicles, which show what he did for
the priesthood ; or the book of Proverbs, which
gives some portion of his wisdom, he is never
mentioned in the text of the Old or New Tes-
tament apart from the temple, or except as a
monarch with a mighty reputation for splen-
dor, wisdom, or wickedness. In the antithe-
sis which Jesus m.akes between this personage
and the lily, Solomon stands in the shadow ; and
the same may be said of the sketch which
Stephen draws of the life of this great builder,
"but Solomon built Him a house." Through-
out the Bible Solomon is implicitly held up
as a warning, and in the one place in the
Hebrew writings, apart from Chronicles, in
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 43
which during later centuries his character is
alluded to, his reputation is black enough.
Hear Nehemiah, the reformer who cleansed
the nation so that the folly wrought by semi-
heathen kings has never been nationally re-
peated since. (Neh. xiii. 26.)
" Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by
these things .'' yet among many nations was
there no king like him, who was beloved of his
God, and God made him king over all Israel :
nevertheless even him did outlandish women
cause to sin."
The "book of the Acts of Solomon," re-
ferred to in I Kings xi. 41, has not survived,
and belongs with that score or scores of lost
books of Hebrew literature to which the Bible
refers. The so-called " Psalter of Solomon "
saw the light probably a millennium after the
first temple had been built. The books of
Kings, which give the fullest accounts of the
man and his character, were composed long
after his death, and the Chronicles not until
after the Babylonian captivity.
In a word, despite tradition and rumor,
which always speaks most and loudest just
where the divine word is most silent, Solo-
mon's reputation as a holy man, an example,
is in the Bible next to nothing.
It is well in purely literary questions con-
44 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
cerning the Bible to take the advice of Paul,
and not give heed to Jevsrish fables, but to
reach conclusions founded on the evidence of
the sacred writings themselves. In thus bas-
ing our judgments upon what the Scriptures
teach, and in forming our opinions upon the
text itself rather than upon legend, we do but
follow the example of our Lord Jesus, who
persistently challenges the traditions of the
scribes, elders, and Pharisees.
Solomon, as a grown man and as a king, is
rather a character to be held up as an awful
example than as a model. Taken in all, he
was probably one of the worst sinners de-
scribed in the Old Testament. With its usual
truth and fearlessness, the Scriptures expose
his real character, and by the later prophets
and by Jesus he is ignored or referred to only
in rebuke. The peculiar sins of Solomon are
those against which the special genius of
Christianity and the direct teaching of the
Christ are most radically opposed.
In our exposition of the Song of Songs we
shall see that he is set before us by the au-
thor of that book as a tempter ; but we shall
also see that in an age of despotism, when
it was almost impossible for a subject, espe-
cially a woman, to resist a king, he was resisted
in the name of God and pure love. He was
LIFE AND TIMES OF KING SOLOMON. 45
triumphed over by one of his plain but virtu-
ous subjects, the Shulaniite, a country girl,
who even in a great city kept her life pure
and her instincts true to right.
Her loyalty to Jehovah was greater than her
loyalty to Solomon. She was a true king's
daughter, but her Sovereign was Jehovah and
not Baal, or the patron of Baal, Solomon.
In a word, we shall find that for the thou-
sands of young men and young women of our
day, away from their childhood's home, father
and mother, friends, old associations, and so-
cial forces, in the great cities, as was the
maiden of Shunem in Jerusalem, there are few
more practical, more modern, more helpful
books in the Bible than this Song of Songs.
What interpretation shall we follow ? The
fatal objection to the allegorical theory is that
it tears the book out of all connection with Jew-
ish history and the Old Testament economy;
while the view of the great modern masters of
Hebrew, which we adopt, keeps it in vital re-
lation to Old Testament times, circumstances,
and people. Which is the truest, let even the
reader of the English Bible judge for himself.
CHAPTER III.
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM,
In glancing at Hebrew history, we find that
when it became the fashion in Israel to have
kings and monarchical government, the Jew-
ish nation was a loose confederation of tribes,
each independent of the other, having no cen-
tral city, the people worshiping at a num-
ber of local shrines in different parts of the
country.
The government was a loose agglomeration
of clan-like republics. Not only was the po-
litical system very simple, but there were no
military resources for defense. Only here and
there were the men well armed, or able to
resist the Philistines and other warlike tribes
surrounding them. The needs of concentra-
tion and a more vigorous political life were
keenly felt ; but Samuel warned the people not
easily or lightly to exchange their republican
simplicity for a king and court. He prophe-
sied evils unheard of. Nevertheless the peo-
ple demanded a monarch.
Saul, the first king, was a failure both as a
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 47
man and as a ruler. He administered gov-
ernment as if it were his private estate, dis-
tributing the offices and property under him
as spoils of a victorious party, like some of the
presidents who have disgraced the American
republic. Nearly all the men to whom he gave
"fields and vineyards, and made captains of
thousands and captains of hundreds" (i Sam.
xxii. 7) were his fellow-tribesmen of Benja-
min. In character he was weak, vacillating,
moody, and cowardly.
David was a man built on a nobler moral
scale. As a man and a king he was a mag-
nificent success. He planned for the whole
nation, without regard to his particular tribe.
He conquered the stronghold of Jebus, and
organized his government on the idea of equal
favor to all the tribes. He went so far as to
have a body-guard composed of foreigners, in-
stead of men of Judah, with the idea of attach-
ing these mercenaries loyally to his own person,
and detaching them from tribal or local in-
terests. He gave the whole people a sense
of nationality and left to them the traditions
of victory. He annihilated his enemies, or
turned them into tributary vassals. He also
prepared the wealth and material for a temple
to Jehovah, and to which the people, leaving
the scattered shrines and miscellaneous, and
48 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
more or less holy, places, should assemble for
national worship. David had his shortcom-
ings, and they were many, and yet the story
of his life is perennially fresh, helpful, and in-
teresting. He was a man of great faults and
great virtues. He sinned grievously, but he
repented nobly. God freely forgave him all
his faults except one, his shameful treatment
of the captain in his army, who, although a
foreigner, was so loyal to him. This Hittite
was a splendid example of the chivalry of the
Canaanites who served with the Hebrew sol-
diery.
After Uriah had been disposed of in battle,
David suffered life-long miseries at the hands
of Joab, the man who knew the secret of his
sin. The widow of the dead man who had so
easily and disgracefully yielded to the king,
and was equally guilty with her consort in
crime, became the head of the royal harem.
Instead of turning with horror from the man
whose hands were red with the blood of her
husband, she consented to be his queen, and
one of his many wives. For David had set
the bad example of having two wives during
his wandering life as an adventurer, five when
reigning as king at Hebron, and an unknown
number at Jerusalem. The state of morals
with the kings of Israel at this epoch was
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 49
approximating that of Asiatic nations to-day,
Turkey for instance, where children are born
in a herd, not in a home. Bath-Sheba, whose
name means " the daughter of an oath," was
the grand-daughter of Ahitophel, a high coun-
selor, first of David and then of Absalom.
This man is known to us as a renegade lawyer,
who hanged himself when his advice was not
taken. His is the only case of suicide in civil
life mentioned in the Old Testament as that
of Judas is in the New. His name, given in
all probability posthumously, means "brother
of foolishness." We do not know much about
Bath-Sheba, but what we do is to her disad-
vantage.
Since she came to David in secret and mar-
ried the murderer of her husband, she serves
as warning rather than example. She was a
"door" rather than a "wall" to the royal
sinner. (Song of Songs viii. 8, 9.) As it is
woman's chief glory to resist the sacrifice of
her purity, so is it her deepest disgrace to
yield too easily to the tempter. Yet such was
the prestige of the king as representative of
Deity that it is difficult to see how any Israel-
itish woman of ordinary moral strength could
have resisted his addresses or demand. Yet,
as we shall see, there was one who could and
did, becoming a " palace of silver," her person
as unassailable as "towers."
50 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Of Bath-Sheba's five sons born to David,
the first died young. Solomon was the second
of Bath-Sheba and the tenth of David. The
name Solomon in Hebrew is Shelomoh, which
the orientals, such as the Turks and other Mo-
hammedans, call Suleiman. Western people,
following Josephus and the Jews at the time
of Christ, use the spelling and pronunciation
of Solomon. The name is equivalent to our
Frederick, which means " rich in peace." It
was given immediately at the birth of the boy,
and very probably by the mother herself. In
this name she may have intended to rear a
monument of gratitude to Jehovah for peace
after long wars, but more probably because she
hailed the birth of a beautiful living child, and
this child a son, as a sure token of the divine
forgiveness of her sin.
It has been well said of our revised English
version of the Holy Scriptures that the text
represents in the main tradition, while the
scholarship is found in the margin. Turn-
ing to 2 Samuel xii. 24, we read in the mar-
gin ^' she called." In the same version, in the
next verse, it is said that " the Lord loved him
(the babe), and he (David) sent by the hand of
Nathan the prophet, and he (Nathan) called
his name Jedidiah, for the Lord's sake."
Jedidiah was a name never used publicly,
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 5 I
but exclusively in the home. It means "be-
loved," or " darling of Jah " — this name of
God being an abbreviation for Jehovah. This
word Jah, though found only once in the Eng-
lish Bible, in the 68th Psalm, occurs in hun-
dreds of words in the Hebrew original, being
especially common in proper names like those
of Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Adonijah, and in
superlative expressions, as in the one passage
in the Canticle, which the revision expresses
as " a very flame of the Lord " (chap. viii. 6). \
As the margin shows, the name of the Divine
Being here is Jah, this shalebeth-yah being the
God-kindled fire of love.
This little by-play upon words as illustrated
in the naming of David's son, and which opens
such a window into his home life, is apt to be
lost upon us unless we remember that " Jedid"
and " David " both have the same meaning of
darling or beloved, and that David's idea was
that though he was the darling of his parents
and his people, this son of hope born of Bath-
Sheba was even more. He was the darling
of Jehovah. In the 127th Psalm this word
"his beloved" occurs, and the title-makers who
supplied the collection with editorial head-
lines have added "A Song of Ascents: of
Solomon."
Inheriting much of his father's intellectual
52 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
ability, though a poor soldier and military
guardian, employing his talents for the most
part in vastly different lines of achievement,
Solomon grew up first under the care of his
mother and of Nathan the scribe and prophet.
David set aside the claims of all his other off-
spring, and by oath made Bath-Sheba's his suc-
cessors to the throne. With his father too aged
to actively counsel him, his mother became his
chief guardian and adviser. Solomon is, in one
sense, a type and embodiment of his age. In
him we see a miniature of the Hebrew empire,
its strength and its weakness, its splendor and
its decay.
Pure in spirit, virgin in mind and body, de-
vout, meek, aspiring, humble, was Solomon's
youth ; firm, wise, pure. God-fearing, was his
earlier manhood. As the primitive Chinese
named their sovereign, so was Solomon the
"self-ruled ruler." Had he in middle life re-
mained simple-minded amid luxury, self-mas-
tered and single-eyed towards God, he might
have stayed the inevitable end into luxury and
sensualism, and his record have been vastly
different. But God's laws change not to suit
individuals. After oppression, division, and
extravagance comes poverty; after sensuality,
disease and premature old age ; after idolatry,
God's wrath.
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 53
In the time of David's old age, when the
natural heat and vigor of his body failed,
means were taken to prolong his life by ten-
der care, (i Kings i. 1-4.) According to the
medical ideas of the age, and as recommended
by the physicians of Hebrew antiquity, and
even by Galen, and according to a custom that
was common even into the Middle Ages, a
young person was sought for to be the king's
nurse. The name of the young maiden se-
lected was Abishag, famed as the most lovely
girl of her day, a native of Shunam, Shunem,
or Shulam ; names, in dialectic variation, of the
same place. This village, in the north of the
country, was famous in early history as a Phil-
istine camp, and later as the home of the widow
visited by Elisha. It lay on the fruitful slope
of Mount (Little) Hermon, overlooking the
plain of Jezreel, in the old domain of the tribe
of Issachar ; Nain, Endor, and Esdraelon being
well-known places near by, and Mount Gilboa
being but a few miles south. Shunem means
"double rest," or "two resting-places." Her
childhood was spent amid the same scenes
familiar to the youth of our Lord Jesus. Some
readers of the Song of Songs see in the in-
cident narrated in chapter vi. 11-13 the ex-
planation of how this fair girl was first met,
and at the royal behest was brought from her
54 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
northern home in GaUlee to the abode of
royalty in the south.
From her humble surroundings in the coun-
try to the post of responsibility and honor in
the palace, the change in Abishag's circum-
stances was great indeed. She served as Da-
vid's attendant during the presumably short
time of his dotage and weakness, and then at
his death seems to have remained in the palace,
though for how long we do not know.
It is more than possible, it is quite prob-
able, that Abishag became the object of the
addresses of Solomon. Covetous of beauty
and ambitious to fill his harem with the fairest
faces and loveliest figures which the woman-
hood, not only of Israel, but of adjoining coun-
tries could furnish, his inordinate desire to
possess this innocent Jewess, who was also, at
the time of his father's death, one of the most
important personages in the kingdom, was
probably one of the causes of Solomon's mur-
der of his brother Adonijah, as related in i
Kings ii. 12-26. True it is, also, that the pos-
session of one who had been so near the per-
son of great David as Abishag would have
given Adonijah, or any man who Solomon was
pleased to believe an aspirant to the throne,
a tremendous prestige in the eyes of the
people.
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE FOEM. 55
In our days and in Western civilization, since
Jesus, who founded the mightiest democracy
which is yet to become world-wide, taught us to
honor a man because he is a man, and a king be.
cause he is nothing more, it is hard to under-
stand the popular reverence for the person of a
king. A relic of the ancient idea was seen in
Japan even as late as 1868, when the nail -par-
ings and combings of the hair, rinsings of the
mouth, and other cxiivice of the Mikado, were
with solemn form and ceremony deposited and
preserved, in the one case for the fire at the
emperor's death, or poured into a consecrated
place near Lake Biwa, the people along the pub-
lic highway being expected to prostrate them-
selves before the vessels as they were borne
along. Solomon's motive may have been a
double one : to obtain for his harem a woman
beautiful and lovely in herself, and also by
attaching her to his own person to gain the
enormous political advantage which he very
naturally and even honestly may have sus-
pected his brother Adonijah of coveting. It is
probable, also, that the author of the historical
book of I Kings treats only of the public and
political phase of the transactions, while the
poetical book of the Canticle deals artistically
with the " anecdote " or private and personal
phase of the incident as it transpired from
those near Solomon to the people.
56 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
The king of Israel may have been doubly
angered at beholding in Adonijah, even after
he had, with most unoriental and almost Chris-
tian clemency, pardoned him, an attempt to
repeat treason, and for this reason ordered his
death.
It is more probable, however, especially
since Bath-Sheba saw no such plot, that Solo-
mon was suffering the pangs of jealousy and
rejection ; because Abishag would not receive
his attentions. At any rate, the despot dis-
patched his chief assassin after the man who
had interceded through the queen-mother for
the beautiful Shunamite, and Adonijah was
murdered in exact accord with that custom of
oriental monarchs which still shows traces of
survival among Turks and Asiatics. It is
quite possible too that the name Abishag,
" source of error," or " father of wayward-
ness," that is, "the heedless" or "inconsider-
ate one," was one bestowed in Jerusalem.
Adonijah was only one of many whom the
king removed by the dagger, for this was the
custom of the time and country ; and it would
be absurd to judge a Hebrew king by the
standards of Christianity and of our age. The
history of Israel on its human side, even in
details, is most wonderfully like the history of
Japan, of Corea, of India, of Turkey ; but it
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 57
has a divine side also which gave the redeem-
ing and elevating element so notably lacking
in the annals of most Asiatic nations.
The inmates of the great harem which
Solomon assembled in Jerusalem just as he
collected horses and chariots, gold and silver,
to excel and outshine his fellow-rulers among
adjoining nations, are the "daughters of Je-
rusalem " of the Canticle. They were hand-
somely dressed ladies, favorites of the king,
living lives of luxury and idleness. In dark
contrast to the Shulamite, who was a devout
worshiper of Jehovah, many of them were
heathen, and opposed to the strict and holy
life of the upright Hebrews, the servants of
Jehovah, who were scandalized at Solomon's
new-fangled ideas and abominable innovations.
It is said that in Solomon's harem there were
seven hundred wives, princesses, and three
hundred concubines. There may be exagger-
ation through copyists' errors in these exces-
sive figures, though other vile imitators of his
bad example have excelled the great Hebrew
sensualist in the size of their harems. We are
not to suppose that Solomon idled most of his
time away among the princesses, concubines,
odalisques, singing-women, and dancing-girls ;
or that he was a monster of lust ; or that he
ever saw or spoke to, much less knew the hun-
58 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
dreds of beauties with their female relatives
and servants that filled his establishment. His
object in having so many ornamental women
was the same as having so many horses in a
country that was practically useless for cav-
alry. His purpose was wholly political and
spectacular. He married a child of the Pha-
raohs, and invited the daughters of the chiefs
of the vassal tribes to become members of his
court or household, and thus formed political
alliances with the various countries and people
comprehended within his empire.
The great seraglio at Constantinople — the
survival of barbarism in Europe — whose chief
supporter, the sultan, gets his example, justifi-
cation, and orthodoxy from Solomon, spends
twenty millions of dollars yearly in supporting
his herd of women, with their accompanying
hordes of servants and eunuchs, of whom
there are hundreds whose names are unknown
to him. Out of his harem he marries about
one hundred girls annually to favorite offi-
cers, for this institution is a sort of training
school through which pashas of note pass
their daughters with the view of securing for
them eligible marriages, with dowry and title.
So little can the sultan actually know of the
harem, which he is supposed to control, that
the plots of murder and assassinations which
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 59
are so frequently hatched in this oven of ini-
quity are often unknown to him until accident
causes leaka^j;e of information which enables
him to save his own life. A virtuous sultan
may hate the harem system and wish to de-
stroy the institution, but hoary, vested inter-
ests are opposed to reform, and the traditional
glory of the dynasty forbids it. Like some
exceptional Asiatic rulers, Solomon may have
been practically a monogamist, though the
Scriptures do not encourage us in this charita-
ble surmise ; yet the faces of the poor must
be ground and the blood of the peasantry
must be wrung out of them to support this
abominable institution. As are the effects of
a royal harem now, so were they then in the
days of this Hebrew king, who with all his wis-
dom wrought such folly in Israel.
We are quite ready to believe that it was
a matter of politics and of decorative effect
rather, that so grand a zenana was maintained
in Jerusalem. Still, it suggests Mormonism
rather than Christianity. The prophets were
all men of one wife. Monogamy was the law
of God and of Israel. Though Abraham and
Jacob were sinners, and in this respect be-
queathed a bad example, besides suffering the
penalties of domestic unhappiness, yet the
model marriage and holy example is that of
6o HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Isaac and Rebecca — one man to one woman.
True, it is the idea of monogamy ratiier than
of a typical happy marriage in every respect,
that this ancient example has been chosen for
the marriage service of the Boolv of Common
Prayer. What domestic miseries Abraham
and Jacob suffered, Solomon experienced on
an exaggerated scale.
According to the oriental proverb, " If you
keep a tiger you will have nothing but trou-
ble," Solomon had now a family of tigresses
to manage. Once installed in the palace and
on intimate terms with royalty, the heathen
princess, unchanged in heart, wanted near her
not only relatives, maids, servants, but her
religious associations and faciHties. To please
his wives, to conciliate the various tribes and
nationalities in his heterogeneous empire, Sol-
omon had shrines erected to the gods of many
countries. Even in a republic, and under
Christianity, what will not a political aspirant
do to capture this or that " vote," and what
crying injustice will remain unredressed when
it has potency of ballots behind it .'' Solomon
for political effect was willing to patronize
idols.
The inventory of paganism which flourished
under the very shadow of Jehovah's temple,
as given by the inspired historian, is a formi-
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 6 1
dable one. What a confusion of tongues and
dialects in the zenana ! There were ladies from
Egypt, from the countries west and south of
the Dead Sea, Moab, Ammon and Edom,
northerners from Zidon and Phoenicia, women
from the once powerful nation of the Hittites,
besides rosy rustics and city -bred beauties
from all over the empire. What a succession
of sensations must have furnished gossip to
the imperial city, as it turned from brick to
stone and from plain sycamore to Phoenician
cedar ! The frequent cavalcades of camels and
horses bringing new personages with their
dowry and presents and the outflowing royal
embassies and gift-laden caravans to vassals
and princes filled the streets with spectacular
brilliancy and gazing crowds. Yet how must
the wise have grieved as they saw rising on
the hills near the city the painted poles under
which the lascivious dances were danced ; and
the shrines built before which the orgies of
Ashtoreth — goddess of beauty and voluptu-
ousness — were celebrated ; and, worse than
all, the idols before which incense smoked and
sacrifices were offered ! The spade of the
archaeologist, which to-day casts out the dead
relics of the past, shows that the things which
accompanied the gods of these various "ites"
once inhabiting Syria were as morally filthy as
62 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
the extant relics of Asiatic heathenism seen
by travelers within a generation past in Japan,
and two generations ago in India.
While Solomon lived, the dreadful influence
of his example, while bad enough, could not in
one lifetime be followed by many of the city
dwellers. Yet the shamefully large number
of idolatrous and morally tainted women in
the harem was like a mass of water kept back
only temporarily by a weak dam. His death,
however, was the signal for a moral disaster of
which the Conemaugh calamity furnishes the
analogy in the natural world. The floodgates
of iniquity were opened upon Jerusalem on
the breaking up of the great royal harem,
after the secession had made impossible, by
the curtailment of revenue, the continued main-
tenance of a vast seraglio. Of the awful ef-
fect upon city life, of this flood of iniquity let
loose, the book of Proverbs especially gives
striking proofs.
That Solomon himself personally deserted
utterly the worship of Jehovah for these di-
vinities we do not gather from the record, nor
believe. That he was spiritually a traitor to
his God in thus lending aid and comfort to
Jehovah's enemies, and of indirectly assisting
in these enormities, is certain. With this sin
God charged him and threatened punishment
upon him for it.
HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN THE POEM. 63
Within an historical framework, as in the
books of the Kings, the Author of the Bible
has set a mirror, into which we in this age of
American prosperity and amazing wealth do
well to look. Within the poetical framework
of the Song of Songs we believe he has set
the contrast of chaste, pure love, maintaining
itself unspotted against the blandishments of
a sensualist. It is highly probable that the
Canticle had an historical basis in an episode
in Solomon's time, and that out of this an
inspired poet was impelled to write a master-
piece expressive of the deepest emotions of the
Hebrew heart. In this poem sensuality is
scorned and rejected, and pure love glorified
and its seat discerned in the bosom of God.
CHAPTER IV.
. POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE.
One of the most profound changes in the
consciousness of the people of Israel was
wrought by the institution of monarchy. Hith-
erto the nation had been, according to the prev-
alent faith, under the direct government of
God. Her judges, priests, and prophets were
ministers of Jehovah who assisted in worship
and in the maintenance of the institutions of
social order and religion. The innovation of
a monarchy and centralized government with
religious services pointing to ultimate restric-
tion at Jerusalem, the king claiming to be
God's vicegerent, caused a profound change
in the feelings of Jehovah's people. At first
all probably welcomed the new order, and dur-
ing the first few years of the sunshine of royal
popularity and the glare of worldly prosperity
there was little or no protest. When, however,
the behavior of the monarch scandalized the
people, and the woes foretold by Samuel fell
upon them, when the taxes and galling bur-
dens began to press upon neck and purse,
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE. 65
there were great searchings of heart. Mon-
archy meant decay of good old customs, the
spoiling of home, monopoly of land, and gen-
eral poverty. This clearly seen, there was
first reaction and then rebellion, followed by
division of the kingdom. Solomon's empire
was short-lived, repeating in this respect the
general precedent and course of empire in
Asia.
Then ensued a period when the memory of
the glory of Solomon was still bright, while
that of his burdens no longer felt was weak.
The perspective of years softened the out-
lines of remembered events. While the great
achievements of the nation under their mighty
king took on the glory and color of sunset
upon the mountain-peaks, the private sins and
public oppressions were lost in the shadows of
the valley. Oblivion covered with its purple
that which once caused smart. By the peo-
ple living in the later period of continuing
monarchy, Solomon was awarded reverential
silence, or his moral obliquity ignored. At
least, the sting of bitterness was extracted
from the memory. The ruins of history were
mantled with the ivy of poetry, and the scars
of devastation were covered with the flowery
luxuriance of figurative language. While Sol-
omon's immediate successors are never once
66 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
mentioned in the poetical books of the Bible,
he himself is made the chief personage in the
Canticle, and in others is a notable figure.
Hence the great contrast between the bald
prose of the books of the Kings and the ex-
uberant poetry of the Canticle. The prophet-
scribe who compiled the Kings gives the un-
varnished facts, the priest-writer of Chronicle
eulogizes Solomon and dwells in the glory of
the temple and the royal gifts, with measure-
ments and mathematical figures, though the
human interest is vastly less than in Kings.
The Ephraimite singer of the Song of Songs
invests everything with a poetic glow. In the
exuberant tropical language of the Orient, all
things fair in heaven and on earth are sum-
moned to picture the environment and to in-
terpret the emotions of the royal admirer and
the faithful lovers, while the crowning motive
of the piece and culmination of the thought is
linked to the name of Jehovah himself.
How did the Song of Songs come to be
written .-" Did poets in the ancient world, in-
spired or uninspired, strive for original con-
ceptions, and attempt to create plots, scenes,
and characters, as is done in modern drama or
novel .''
If anything seems established by close study
of the literature and life of the ancient world.
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE. 67
it is this : that the abstract invention of a
character, or a story apart from some basis of
fact, by a poet ; or, the utterance of a prophecy
having no vital connection with the prophet's
own life, times, and experience, is in the He-
brew Scriptures unknown. In either case, of
poem or prophecy, there must be a starting
point of actual occurrence. The anecdote was
the seed of poem, psalm, or prophecy. Liter-
ally, it may be said, the poetry, fiction, drama,
and prophetic " burden " ., of the Bible is
"founded on fact."
By what particular historical occurrence the
Song of Songs was suggested, or to what event
it is directly related, we do not know with
certainty. Using the word "anecdote" in its
literal and historic sense, the conjecture is
not unreasonable that the composer of the
Canticle, like the poet or poets of the book of
Job who used the anecdote concerning the
" man of Uz," has heard the story of Abishag
and Solomon's desire to win her for himself,
or at least sees behind his murder of Adonijah
the basis of a drama in real life. Thereupon,
with this incident as a suggestive starting
point, and with exquisite literary art, he con-
structs the cantata which so clearly sets in
contrast pure and innocent love with sensual
passion and unholy ambition. Let us look at
68 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
the portico of this temple of Hebrew poetry,
so full of strength and of beauty. In the
superscription of the writing we have the an-
nouncement or argument, — "The Song of
Songs, which is Solomon's." It is the chief
song, the noblest of all, because its theme is
the noblest passion, love. As God, the King
of kings, dwells in the heaven of heavens, in
the true holy of holies, and is God of gods.
Lord of lords ; as Canaan was the " servant
of servants;" as life to the writer of Ecclesi-
astes was vanity of vanities ; as love to our
Heavenly Father should be in our heart of
hearts : so the song whose burden is love is
the Song of songs. The Bible itself is the
Canticle of God's love to us, for God is love.
Even the New Testament, though its lan-
guage is Greek, contains this Hebrew idiom,
for "salvation is of the Jews;" and Paul the
Hebrew, though using Greek, calls himself a
"Hebrew of the Hebrews."
Of the book now under examination, the
title is Shir hash Shirim, or Song of Songs;
yet it is quite possible that this Hebrew writ-
ing when first published had no title. This
was the case with most of the scriptures of
the Old Testament, the names of which as
now used came into use much later than the
time of their composition. In this respect
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE- 69
they were like the great volume ranking next
in world-wide popularity to the Bible, and
which all Christians love, supposed to have
been written by Thomas a Kempis. It is
known under several titles, which take their
form from words or phrases in the book itself,
such as "The Imitation of Christ," or "On
the Following of Christ " ; though in Japan
the Jesuit missionaries translated it under the
title "Contempt of the World." The head-
line over the fifth of the poetical books of the
Bible, — "The Song of Songs which is Solo-
mon's,"— the only line of prose in the form of
the book as we have it, is so evidently a ver-
sicle added as a title by a hand later than the
author's, that in the Revision of 1884 the old
heading of the page in the former English ver-
sions has been discarded and the name, The
Song of Songs, only, printed as the title to be
used by the people. In this matter the re-
visers have followed the best critical editors
of the Hebrew text. The study of philology
teaches us to pay closest attention to the
smallest words, for often these little " hooks
and eyes " of speech tell great stories, and are
as true evidences of time and change as the
geological imprints once made in clay and now
hardened for the ages in stone. The little pro-
noun "which " in the title. The Song of Songs
70 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
tvhich is of, or about Solomon, is different in
form to the extent of several letters from the
same pronoun {sJu) which is used in every
other place in the Canticle. In the head-line,
added doubtless long after the poem was
written, it is asher, a word rarely used in titles,
even of the Psalms, and containing three con-
sonants and two vowels ; in the body of the
book, the pronoun " which " is represented in
Hebrew by a word of one consonant letter.
Some scholars think the words " which is Sol-
omon's" are part of the text by the author who
intended to imitate the style of Solomon, or
to project himself into Solomonic times and
sphere of thought.
Our word Canticles, more properly Canticle,
is from the Latin " Canticum canticorum."
Luther called it " Das Hohelied," and a
French expositor crowns it as "the Eternal
Song."
Our understanding of the poem is much
facilitated by constant reference to the histori-
cal books, for often these preserve for us the
figurative expression which the contemporaries
of Solomon used to denote the objects of their
admiration or censure. Thus, in regard to the
person and appurtenances of the king, we have
in chapter iv. 8 of the Song references which
might, without the explanation in Kings, be
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE. 7 1
interpreted literally of zoology instead of met-
aphorically of the king's seat and companions.
The Shulamite's lover, in urging her to go
with him, mentions the various royal resi-
dences, and bids her to escape with him away
from them and from Solomon. Besides Leba-
non, Amana, Shenir, and Hermon, he speaks
of "the lions' den," and "the mountains of
the leopards." Are we to think here of wild
beasts, live quadrupeds noted for their claws
and teeth ; or, of the lion-supported throne of
Solomon and the court in which his courtiers
dwell >.
In both Kings and Chronicles (i Kings
X. 18-20 ; 2 Chron. ix. 18, 19) we read of the
great throne, of ivory overlaid with the finest
gold, with six steps leading to it and " two
lions standing beside the stays." In other
parts of the sacred writings, kings are styled
"lions," and the courtiers surrounding a great
monarch are called by the names of powerful
beasts. In the popular language of a distant
province the throne-room with its fourteen lions
would be called "the lions' den."
The pet names which the faithful girl gives
her lover are all poetical, and in accord with
the richness of oriental metaphor. To her, his
name is " spikenard," as the king's is to the
harem ladies "ointment poured forth " — as a
72 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
precious alabaster perfume-bottle broken and
poured upon the head of the guest, or crushed
in a napkin every piece of which is thencefor-
ward a bearer of sweet odors. By none of the
senses, more than the particular one of smell,
is the memory more deeply stirred and asso-
ciation recalled. (2 Cor. ii. 1-16.) He whom
her soul loveth is a neck-bag, or vial of per-
fume, a bundle of myrrh which she wears on
her bosom between her heart and her gar-
ments. As Job, or Job's wife, named one of
his daughters Keren-happuch, or toilet-box, so
names of things liked by ladies were often
applied to their human favorites. As a cluster
of rich yellow cypress flowers at her girdle,
also, so is her absent beloved. Though warm
and ardent, her language and images as well as
her thought are immaculately chaste and art-
lessly innocent.
In the maiden's speech we find an amazing
wealth of imagery, and her native tongue is as
full of the natural poetry of the Hebrews as
the plain of Sharon is full of daisies. Many
of the old words of the language are in them-
selves latent poems, but on her lips a new
beauty is born into many of them. As a vine-
yard consists of cultivated or prepared land,
and is a place of beauty as well as of work, so
she calls her own person "a vineyard." Neg-
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE. 73
lected indeed it has been, as her sunburned
skin shows, and as she acknowledges with
apology in the presence of the critical court
beauties. The contrast however between the
references in the first and the last chapter is
striking. Pure and uninvaded, scathless from
the fire of trial, she is her own and not the
tempter's, and in presence of her husband and
her friends in the final scene she exclaims,
" My vineyard which is mine is before me,"
she speaks with the exultation of victory.
Another lively poetic image underlies her
reference to her dark complexion. As the
"eyes of the sun " are spoken of by Nathan
in his speech to David, so the poet makes her
say that the sun, which is here feminine, has
"gazed" steadily upon her — like a woman
whose one piercing black eye looks out from
behind her veil. In other parts of the Bible
the morning "twinkles," and the moon "looks
forth " as the " faithful witness of the sky."
So also the word for mid-day is plural, or
rather dual ; the noons being literally the
" double light," when the sun's rays of the
morning and of the afternoon blend in an in-
tensity that drives man and beast to seek
shade or single light.
To the pure-minded lover, the Shulamite
is lovely with virginal modesty and acquired
74 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
womanly virtues. She is a " lily among
thorns," a "dove in the cleft of the rocks," an
" inclosed garden," a " fountain sealed." She
is his "sister," his " betrothed." Unlike the
members of Solomon's miscellaneous herd, she
is " one." In her unassailable purity she is a
well of living water, a limpid mountain brook of
Lebanon. In her own self-deprecating words
she is "black" — the word being the same
as that applied to the turbid Nile, — but in his
eyes she is clear-skinned and white as the
torrent's foam. In her accomplishments and
charms she is "a garden of spices," a sweet
singer dwelling in the gardens.
As to the one beloved of the Shulamite, who
in the Hebrew is invariably addressed in one
form of words not used of Solomon, he seems
in his life and ways to be more than of earthly
mould, of almost angelic habits of innocence,
purity, and high communion of soul with things
rare, precious, and unearthly. He is an ideal
personage in her eyes. His dwelling-places
are fields of lilies, gardens of balsam, and
mountains of spices. He is beautiful in body,
wise in mind, and free as the hinds of the field.
He is her leader, teacher, and exemplar. In
the ardor of her affection she clothes him with
ideal graces which all the splendors of royal
blandishments cannot for a moment eclipse. If
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE. 75
in this book there be found a true type of
Christ, it is the shepherd-lover, and not the
sensual king.
In the beloved's addresses, chaste, pure, and
tender, natural images are abundantly reflected.
He never visibly appears on the scene until
the last crovifning event, and in all the others
the Shulamite sees him only in trance or vision.
As in the spiritual drama of Job, where the
one most talked about and honored is God, not
man, he appears on the scene only at the very
last.
In Solomon's addresses to the vv^oman of his
quest, whose innocence and inapproachability
baffle him, one easily discovers a marked con-
trast in thought, imagery, and language from
those employed by the shepherd. The royal
voluptuary's conceptions are not elevated, his
metaphors are sometimes heavy, and most of
his images are those borrowed from the artifi-
cial life of cities, courts, and stables. His lan-
guage is less that of the impassioned lover than
the ambitious seeker who does not expect to
be finally baffled ; it is highly rhetorical, and
sometimes in exquisite literary form. Only in
the final scene of his attentions, however, does
he seem to speak in terms which verge upon
impropriety. Indeed, except this very brief
speech of Solomon to the dancing-girl of
76 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Mahanaim, the writer declares, after earnest
study, that he discovers nothing in discord
with purity of thought and sound moraUty in
all the Canticle.
To Solomon the new inmate of his palace is
like a mare, her cheeks and neck remind him
of jewels, her neck recalls the armory-tower,
he compares her to the rival cities of Tirzah
and Jerusalem. His view of nature is that of
a cultivated critic who enjoys the landscape
best when it is full of the triumphs of civiliza-
tion. In chapter vii. the description of the
dancer's person by the women is done with a
detail that is more pleasing to oriental than to
western taste.
The height of exuberance of figurative lan-
guage is reached in the final scene and last
chapter, where the obscurity or, we may say,
profundity of the allusions suggests the enig-
mas so characteristic of Solomon's age, and of
which the orientals are yet so fond. Here
love is a fire unquenchable by stream or flood,
equalling the grave in its irresistible power.
Here the little sister of undeveloped figure is
warned to choose between being a wall or a
door. The alternative prizes of a lintel of
cedar or of a turret of silver is set before her.
A marriage with a plain man, perhaps old and
harsh, stern and severe, or even the sale into
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE, jy
a harem against her will ; or, on the other hand,
honorable and crowned marriage to her own
chosen lover, is here indicated. The chief
treasure among the wedding gifts being the
horn of silver which ornamented the bride's
head, and from which her veil depended, the
"palace" or turret of silver would, should she
prove discreet, modest, and faithful, be built
upon her, and her "horn " be "exalted " with
the honor desired by all Hebrew daughters.
The vineyard of Solomon at Baal-hamon had
doubtless its counterpart in actual land, vines,
grapes, or olives, and husbandmen and rent ;
but throughout the poem the vineyard which
she neglected was her own, and " my vineyard
which is mine is before me" was her own per-
son— her virgin body, unbought, unsold.
Apart from the human actors in the Canticle
and the figurative language applied to them
in names of love and fear, there is a rich sym-
bolism pertaining to places and things. The
mountains of Lebanon, rich as they were in
balsam trees and cedars, were the real types of
those " mountains of spices " which were prob-
ably never seen on sea or land but grew in
ideal regions. The mountains of Bether, or
separation, refer probably to the everlasting
hills wrinkled with valleys or gorged with ra-
vines, making division and distance between
78 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
lover and loved. " Mountains of myrrh " and
" hills of frankincense " were not only the
ranges that strike the view in northern Israel,
but typified probably also the beauties of the
human form, or gardens found in lovers' bowers.
We find in Solomon's last spee-ch palm-trees and
boughs, clusters of " grapes " and apples that
grow only in poetry, and on the fairest work
of God in that human form which, in the poe-
try of Genesis, he made of a rib instead of the
dust of the ground.
Of places we easily recognize those of his-
toric name and reality, but are there not others
to be discovered on no map, and existent only
in the geography of imagination .'* Archaeolo-
gists and excavators in the Hebrew texts have
sought in vain to locate Baal-Hamon, or the
Baal of Multitude. Possibly such a locality
did really exist in one of the " fat valleys of
Ephraim," and its name if not a mis-reading
for Baal-Hermon may perhaps be found cor-
rupted into the " Balamon " of the apocryphal
book of Judith, chapter viii. 3. It seems more
likely, however, that the name is a coinage
of the brain of the poet, and to go after it
might be like seeking in England John Bun-
yan's Vanity Fair and other places of immortal
note. So with " the lions' dens " and " the
mountains of leopards," as we have suggested.
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE. 79
In the symbolism of flowers, and recondite
alhisions to the sentiment associated with
trees, fruits, perfumes, and other delectable ob-
jects, in metaphor and trope, the poet is lavish.
The sun looks on the maiden to tan brown her
face, the morning peeps forth, the gazelles are
creatures to take solemn oath by, love is a liv-
ing creature with a will not to be lightly awak-
ened, the state car of Solomon is paved with
love. The Shulamite's plants and orchard of
pomegranates, with all the costly spices, are
emblems of mental and moral graces and traits
of temperament. She is his garden, the joys
of her love are his honeycomb and honey, his
wine and milk, making a feast of joy. Yet she
is " not too bright or good for human nature's
daily food." The apple-tree, which is among
the trees of the wood what the beloved is to
his loving betrothed among the young men, is
the symbol of love and affection. Its beauty,
usefulness, fragrance, its delicious fruit and
delightful shadow, the memories that cluster
around it as a playground and even as a birth-
place in the East, where life, even in its begin-
ning, as well as toil and joy, is in the open air,
make it a favorite with the poets. Probably at
the era of Solomon this Persian tree was first
introduced into Palestine ; and, becoming a
part of the life of the people, it formed a strik-
8o HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
ing object in the landscape and a useful sym-
bol to the poets. This fruit of fruits is also
placed poetically in the eyeball, and hung on
the forbidden tree in Eden. Possibly, however,
the apple-tree of the Hebrews is more correctly
an apricot, or possibly a quince.
Contrast between urban and rural life, to
the advantage of the latter, is one of the
notable points in the poem. In the country
the maid of Shunem has all her joys ; in the
city, her woes, sorrows, accidents, and peculiar
troubles. Evidently it is the purpose of the
poet to paint the delights of out-door life amid
the beauties of nature, compelling contrast to
the dangers and temptations of the city. In
no book of the Bible is the lesson that God
made the country while man made the town
so clearly illustrated. In no other are the
diverse modes of life put in juxtaposition, the
one to be feared, and the other to be desired.
Like the teacher of Nazareth, who perhaps
never spent a night in Jerusalem except that
one of sorrow before his crucifixion, and who
avoided the city for the country, the Shulam-
ite ever looks longingly upon the fields and
hills.
Cities are the graves of health and strength,
the destroyers of nerve and vigor, and the
waste of energy needs constant replenishing
POETIC BACKGROUND OF THE CANTICLE. 8 1
from the country, where life is more natural.
The demands which civilization makes upon
the physical frame could never be supplied
from the cities, and except for the country the
loss could not be remedied.
In one respect, at least, the era of the new
empire in Israel was noticeably like the cen-
tury in which we live. It was the age of
cities. Life began to be concentrated within
streets and walls. The demand for labor and
talent which the newly formed systems of
manufactures, public works, and commerce re-
quired drew large numbers of the young men
and women away from field and viney ird, olive
garden and village, to the cities, and especially
to the capital, Jerusalem. That this was not
an unmixed good, but in many respects a pos-
itive evil, the subsequent history of the nation
shows.
The Song of Songs, however, is a bright
picture of a true servant of God reared amid
rural and even rustic scenes, who preserves
her character and religion amid the luxury and
glamour of the great metropolis. In this
respect the poem is one of timely interest and
present application to the tens of thousands
of youths who in our land have left their child-
hood's rural homes to seek excitement, fame,
or fortune in the teeming cities. May the ex-
82 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
ample of the incorruptible maiden of Shunem
be to them a beacon of light and inspiration,
while her temper ev^er remains a warning
against that " hardening of the heart which
brings irreverence for the dreams of youth."
What happened to the Shulamite comes to
pass in the history of almost every young man
and young woman. Especially in a country of
endless possibilities like our own is this true.
She was placed between opposite attractions
that represented the true and the false ideals
of life. Should she choose glory or duty ?
Should she live with conscience, religion, sim-
plicity of life, purity, and be faithful to her
word and first love .'' -Or, for ambition's sake,
for an " establishment " in Jerusalem sell her-
self } Happy they who by decision and un-
swerving loyalty to the ideals of duty keep
conscience clear and enjoy peace of mind !
CHAPTER V.
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE OF THE SONG OF SONGS.
The Song of Songs is the only book in the
library of the sacred writings which consists
wholly of poetry and conversation. All the
other poetical books, even the Book of Job
which is a drama of the spirit, contain prose
diction in the form of introduction, subject-
matter, explanation, or epilogue, in which the
author himself speaks. In the Song of Songs,
however, the author is entirely silent as to in-
formation given, or utterances directly made
from himself. There are no voices but those
of the dramatis personce, the characters them-
selves.
No other book of the Bible in the older Eng-
lish versions stood so much in need of the
reviser's touch as that of the Canticle. In
the Revised Version, the five thousand words
are arranged with some reference to their
order as poetry ; and as dialogue, soliloquy,
chorus, or conversation. It may now be read
intelligently by the general reader. Nor does
it now seem presumptuous audacity even to
84 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
talk of its consummate form as a work of
literary art.
What is the form of this masterpiece of
Hebrew poetry ? Is it a pastoral, epic, lyric,
cantata, or drama ? Or, is there any one word
which, with honest reference to our scanty
knowledge of its origin, purpose, and use in
ancient times, will accurately describe it ? This
is a question of great interest to scholars, who
have expended much learning upon this point ;
and research and controversy concerning the
corollary question whether the drama existed
among the Hebrews. In every Asiatic race,
from Japan to Phoenicia, we find dramatic ex-
pression in some form ; but in none of the
Semitic races did this reach the point of devel-
opment represented by the theatre.
Some assert that there is such an innate
estrangement in the Hebrew genius from
everything of the nature of plastic art, that
even dramatic writings would be impossible
among them. Both the actor on the stage
and the composer of the drama must, accord-
ing to the measure of his success, divest him-
self of his own personality and enter into that
of others. He must have a sort of double con-
sciousness. He must move himself with pas-
sions which are not his own, and identify him-
self with the soul of others. It is asserted
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 85
that the Hebrews were not able to do this, and
hence divine inspiration, which moved the
penmen of the Holy Scriptures to utter their
God-breathed wisdom in almost every other
form of literary expression, found no instru-
ment in the drama. Even the very thought
of the pure drama, or of dramatic writing in
the Bible, shocks the minds of those educated
to believe that plastic art and inspiration are
incompatible, like the union of Christ and
Belial.
What foundation of truth or fact underlies
such notions ? Does not a critical, that is, a
thoroughly honest and unbiased, searching of
the Scriptures, according to the command of
Christ, modify such presuppositions ? Is it
not true that the Hebrews were especially
noted for their love of symbols, and that " sym-
bolism went the length of mimicry," that the
prophets often did enter into the feelings and
the very personality of others in remote times
and places ? Was not this, strictly speaking,
dramatic action ? From a purely literary
point of view, is not Isaiah's creation of the
Servant of Jehovah one of the boldest strokes
of dramatic genius ? Was it without point
that Jesus called attention to the mimic stage-
play, the private theatricals of the children in
the market-place (Matthew xi. 17), and that
86 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
he branded the Pharisees, the consummate
mask-wearers of his day, as "stage-actors,"
that is, hypocrites ?
It is true, as a study of Hebrew literature
shows, that the Scriptures emanating from Ju-
dah or Southern Israel were more intensely
spiritual in their tone, and borrowed less their
images from nature, while in the speech and
writings of the prophets and poets of Ephraim
or Northern Israel there was, if not more of
dramatic movement, action, life, fire, trope,
metaphor, and picture word, a closer acquaint-
ance and sympathy with nature. The sacred
land of Jehovah, containing "the fat valleys of
Ephraim " and the perennially rich plain of
Jezreel, was more bountifully dowered with
Nature's gifts in the north than in the south.
The Hebrew in northern Israel lived not next
to the desert, as did his southern brethren,
but in a more fertile region and nearer to
Phoenicia, the land of art and the refinements
of civilization. Further, the natural scenery
of the North was more bold, variegated, and
impressible than in the South, where sand
and bare rocks and untimbered hills prevailed.
It was in Ephraim that lyric poetry was most
cultivated and whence arose the mightiest
singers and poets.. It was Naphthali that
"gave goodly words." It was in the North
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 8/
that the drama had a place, though it never
developed into the theatre.
In studying further the dramatic structure
of this Bible drama of pure love, we do not
find that the speakers are named as in the
Book of Job, which is a drama of the soul's
trials. In the Canticle, except the title, there
are no marks at beginning or ending, such as
are added by original writers or later editors
and title-makers of the Psalms, so we must
look to internal marks. A Swiss cottage
shows us its plan even from the outside, be-
cause the main timbers are visible. In a more
elaborate edifice, however, we must enter and
from within study the architect's idea. In a
modern drama help is given to the reader by
divisions and sections, by the initial letters of
speakers, and versicles usually printed in ital-
ics. All these are lacking in the Canticle.
As printed in a disjointed, butcher-like way in
the unrevised versions, with swaddling-bands
of impertinent chapter-headings and verse-
divisions, it is nearly as hard to recognize the
masterly poetic form of the original as to dis-
cover the pretty lamb of the meadow in the
dressed carcass on the iron hooks of the
market stall.
On the contrary, the original poem in the
Hebrew gives by unerring marks and details
88 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
of anatomy nearly as much assistance to the
reader as the printed helps in a modern book.
The Revised Version presents a much bet-
ter expression of this part of the Word of God
than the old form which is marred by the
mixing together of commentators' notes, dog-
matic interpretations, and traditions of Scribes
and Pharisees, with Holy Scripture. These
notes and comments contained in the chapter-
headings are intended to force upon the
reader the interpretation accepted first by the
Synagogue, and then by the Church from
the Synagogue. In a way that scandalizes an
honest reader of God's Word, they thrust a
scheme of purely human invention upon the
common people, who thus unwittingly w^ear
the spectacles provided for them and read into
the Scriptures what the rabbis and doctors in-
tended they should. In other words, the pub-
lishers of King James's version of the Bible
have effectually, for the vast majority of read-
ers, braved the warning in Revelation xxii. i8,
and added " to the words of the prophecy of
this book." In removing, for most people, the
possibility of reading it in a natural way, they
have also taken away from " the words of the
prophecy of this book." How men of the re-
formed or Protestant faith have so long sub-
mitted to this dishonoring of the Holy Word
is hard to understand.
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 89
The Revisers have returned to right prin-
ciples in setting forth a new English version
of the Word of God as contained in the He-
brew and Greek Scriptures. They have swept
utterly away many of the old titles and sub-
scriptions, the chapter headings, the arbitrary
verse divisions, and have restored to some-
thing approaching its ancient form this
matchless poem and Bible book of love. In
the Revision of 1884, we read as the title, in
the page-headings, not "The Song of Solo-
mon," nor " Solomon's Song," but " The Song
of Songs."
Further, they have attempted to show its
poetic structure, with the dialogues and re-
frain. One who endeavors to unlock the
meaning of this, the most neglected book of
Holy Scripture, has now his greatest ally in
the English Bible. The poetry, the dramatic
element, and the exquisite literary beauty of
this Hebrew drama are now fairly expressed
in a volume in the hands of the people, and
therefore accessible to all.
Nor is this arrangement of the text a mere
matter of opinion, taste, or guess-work. It is
determined by the grammar of the Hebrew
languag;e, a critical study of which furnishes
the scholar with clews in abundance. It is
quite easy to distinguish in any paragraph
90 HISTORY AND CKITICISM.
whether it is the Shulamite or either of her
suitors that is speaking. The feminine form
of verb, adjective, and noun in each case re-
veals the maiden as the speaker. Her GaHlean
dialect is no more to be mistaken than was
Peter's in the high-priest's hall in Jerusalem.
The addresses of the ladies of the harem are
easily recognized. They call her, " fairest of
women"; and when spoken to they are
"daughters of Jerusalem," as in the six places,
chapters i. 5 ; ii. 7 ; iii. 5, 10 ; v. 8 ; viii. 4.
To distinguish infallibly the male speakers
is at present probably impossible, but to do so
with a fair degree of certainty is not extremely
difficult. We point out a few indications here,
reserving a fuller treatment for the chapter on
" Literary Features of the Poem."
The king, when addressing the maiden, al-
ludes to his position, as in i. 9, 1 1 ; vi. 4, or
makes use of language referring to his animals,
trappings, furniture, possessions, and things of
artificial life ; his metaphors are rather elabo-
rate, not to say strained ; the coloring of his
diction is that of a city-bred man in high life.
He calls the one to whom he is paying his at-
tentions, " my love " — as the Revision trans-
lates this special form of address, the old ver-
sion having " my friend." The word in the
Hebrew {rayaJi) is different from the forms of
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 91
address which the shepherd-lover uses to his
betrothed, though among his many terms of
endearment, this of " my love," or " my dear,"
is also employed. This variety of address as-
sists us, though not infallibly, to distinguish
the male speakers. In the final colloquy, the
king's language strains the limits of propriety
never even approached by the rural lover.
On the contrary, the shepherd speaks a less
rhetorical, polished, and artificial language,
which reflects the images of rural and outdoor
life. His talk is of flocks, sheep, flowers, nat-
ural perfumes and foods, and of objects within
the range of his vision, or of popular knowl-
edge. His words have not the shadow of im-
propriety in them, though full of intense pas-
sion and an abandon of emotion that seems
at the very nadir of the modern lover whose
chief aim, if we may trust the average novel,
is to hold himself in constraint before the
woman he secretly worships.
The Shulamite's talk of her beloved refers to
an environment different from that of an inhab-
itant of kings' houses, though when portraying
him to the palace ladies she describes his per-
son in terms of the luxury then seen around
speaker and hearers. She invariably calls him
by one supreme pet name which she never be-
stows upon her royal suitor. The lover, whether
92 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
absent or present, is the " beloved." This word
{dod) is found like the recurring strain of
melody in a great symphony. The revisers
have carefully discriminated one phase of this
feature, adding in the margin to Solomon's form
of address " my love " (chap. i. 9), " my friend''
(and so throughout), though they have neg-
lected to add the equally important fact that
the accepted lover's title " my beloved " is also
"so throughout," and is never used by, or ap-
plied to, the royal suitor. In the plural, this
word {dod) signifies caresses, or other signs of
affection, except where in one place it refers
probably to friends or spectators. Indeed it
may be said that on the right discrimination
and understanding of the different Hebrew
words expressed in English by the one word
"love," rests the appreciation and comprehen-
sion of this apparently enigmatical book. We
know what staple for popular misunderstand-
ing, as well as for homiletic expatiation, the
poverty of our language affords, when in the
English version of the New Testament, three
distinct Greek words are rendered by that one
factotum of four letters — "love." Unfortu-
nately, we are put to nearly as great a strait
in trying to make an inadequate vagueness
in English do duty for clear distinctions in
Hebrew which serve excellently for dramatic
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 93
as well as ideographic signs. In the refrain,
chapters ii. 7, iii. 5, v. 8, viii. 4, and in the
climax, chap. viii. 6, 7, the word for love
{ahabaJi) refers to the sentiment and not to a
person ; though in chap. iii. 10, and vii. 6, this
same word is used in a way that partakes both
of the abstract and the concrete, in connection
with the Shulamite. The word rayaJi, which
we may translate my "dear," my "friend,"
my "love" (chap. i. 9, ii. 10), is used alike by
Solomon and the shepherd-lover, though the
latter calls her also by the more pronounced
names of bride, and sister, beside other en-
dearing epithets. The one name however by
which the Shulamite, the main character of
the poem, addresses or speaks of her " be-
loved " is dod, and this special designation
she bestows upon no one else. The reader
of the English Bible may be assisted in his
study of the poem by noticing how, when,
where, and by whom the various Hebrew
words for " love " are used : —
Ahabak, chapters ii. 4, 5, 7; iii. 5, 10; v.
8 ; vii. 6 ; viii. 4, 6, 7, 7.
Aheb, i. 3, 4, 7, 16 ; iii. i, 2, 3, 4.
Rayah, i. 9, 15; ii. 2, 10, 13; iv. i, 7 ; v.
2; vi. 4.
Dod, ii. 3, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17; iv. 16; v. i,
2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10, 16 ; vi. I, 2, 3 ; vii. 9,
10, II, 13 ; viii. 5, 14.
94 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
The two words ahabah and aJieb are from the
same root signifying, as noun and verb, the
general sentiment of Affection, and are used in
some of the most tender and beautiful pas-
sages in the Old Testament, as for example
by Jacob, Genesis xxix. 20, David, 2 Samuel i.
26, and Isaiah Ixiii. 9. Rayah means dear one,
or (female) friend. In chapters i. 2, 4 ; iv. 10 ;
vii. 12, the word ^s'ci^ signifies the acts of love ;
in the other instances noted above it refers
to a person.
The step-brothers of the heroine are referred
to in three places, and their words given in
two of these, chap. ii. 15, and viii. 8, 9.
Of the citizens of Jerusalem who speak in
chapter iii. 6-1 1, there are probably three or
four who make question and answer, each hav-
ing reference to what most attracts his atten-
tion. The poet may have here meant also to
introduce a chorus.
The " daughters of Jerusalem " are the pal-
ace ladies belonging to the royal harem. They
speak frequently in chorus or solo, not only in
the opening scene, and in description of the
dancer in chapter vii. In the last part of the
poem the friends of the shepherd form a cho-
rus, as in chapter viii. 5.
It may be that we have also two snatches
or fragments of popular songs such as often
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 95
echoed in the vineyards of Israel twenty-five
centuries ago. The words primarily uttered
by the step-brothers, as a command or warn-
ing, were probably also a ditty sung in fact in
actual life, and in representation also when
this composition was sung at wedding festivals
or recited in public.
The pretty fragment in chapter vi. 13, which
begins chapter vii. in the Hebrew, with its four
repetitions of the word " return," is as musical
in its way as the echo-chorus in the Bugle-song
of Tennyson. The repeated Hebrew word
sJmbe, ending in a long, open vowel, is one that
is found in some of the most melodious pas-
sages in the Bible, the music of which so
charms the ear. It is the same as that which
Ruth used in her immortal refusal to forsake
Naomi, " Entreat me not to leave thee, or to re-
turn from following after thee," etc. It is one
of the most effective words to the ear either
in Hebrew or English. It is often used in the
poetical books, but nowhere else in such strik-
ing repetitions as in this passage. If this can-
tata was ever enacted in public with musical
accompaniment, the effect of this echo-chorus
must have been very sweet to the ear. In the
poem the words may have been uttered by
Solomon, but more probably by the court
ladies.
96 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Most striking of the features which reveal
the dramatic structure of this consummate
work of Hebrew poetical art, is the formula
of adjuration, "I adjure you, O ye daughters
of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of
the field, that ye stir not up nor awaken love
till it please."
The recurrence of this formula four differ-
ent times at the end of decisive scenes divides
the composition into six parts ; or, shall we
say, acts ? As a division-mark it reminds us
of the Selah of the Psalms, indicating a pause
of considerable length. Its words are always
addressed to the court ladies. Instead of
being a "slumber-song" or lullaby, it is more
than a " charge " not to awaken a beloved one
who wishes to sleep; it is an impassioned, sol-
emn appeal to those who would wantonly, even
frivolously, stir up the God-born emotion. The
word used by the Shulamite, or put into her
mouth by the poet, is the same which in other
parts of the Bible is rendered to " swear by an
oath," to "confirm by an oath," to " bind with
an oath," being so rendered about one hun-
dred and fifty times in most of the English
versions of the Bible.
The translators of 1611, however, allowed
their notions of interpretation to warp the
plain meaning of the text, and so, curiously
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 97
enough, the " Solomon's Song " of the old
version is the one book in the Bible in which
the Hebrew slieba (as in Becr-sheba the well
of the oath, Bath-sheba daughter of an oath,
etc.) was translated " charge." The Revisers
of 1884, honestly conforming to the text, have
rightly rendered this strong word "adjure."
Whether it was right for a Hebrew, a wor-
shiper of Jehovah, to swear by the roes and
gazelles of the fields instead of by some name
of the Deity, we do not here discuss. When
long afterwards in Egypt the Canticle was
translated into their own Greek speech by the
Alexandrian Jews, they evidently found offense
in this appeal to wild creatures, and translated
"By the powers and virtues of the field," etc.
Certainly the Bible gives many forms and
fashions of oaths, with much variety both of
language and gesture. Perhaps with uplifted
hand and flashing eyes, the Shulamite called
upon the creatures most free, most untram-
meled, most timorous, as well as most familiar
to her childhood's life, to be witnesses ; even
as Abraham in taking oath with Abimelech
at Beer-sheba, the well of the oath, set forth
seven female lambs as witnesses (Genesis
xxi. 27-30). The country girl of the North
was probably accustomed thus to swear by
creatures that had impressed her imagination.
98 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
even as her neighbors swore by their head,
beard, tent-pole, or by other objects often in
themselves trivial or commonplace, as well as
by the temple, by the blood, or by Heaven.
There are in the Song many plays on words,
alliterations, and brilliant repartees which take
their cue from the last speaker. It is as hard
to transfer these from Hebrew poetry over into
English prose as to keep the perfume in a
pressed flower. There are also some obscu-
rities that have not yet yielded their secret to
investigation.
The various scenes in which the heroine
finds herself are laid either in Jerusalem, both
within and without the palace, in the streets
and open squares of the city, and on or near
the walls ; or, in Northern Israel, in the vine-
yards, fields, gardens, mountain slopes, and
childhood's scenes under the trees. To the ac-
cepted lover, " my beloved " of the poem, who
is the shepherd, the maiden often speaks, or
talks, as if he were in her presence. Appar-
ently he is in Jerusalem, and at the palace, as
well as in Hermon and the land of Issachar in
the far North.
Since by far the greater portion of the poem
consists of addresses or references to " the be-
loved " or of his words to the Shulamite, the
question naturally arises. How does the author
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. 99
intend to represent the movements of "the be-
loved " ? Does he mean us to understand that
the shepherd appears on the scene in objective
reality, bodily in the flesh, in presence of,
alongside of, or embracing the maiden ? Does
he come to Jerusalem, walk in the gardens,
or under the windows of the palace ? Is he a
visible speaker on the stage ? Does he with
actual and audible voice bid her fly with him ?
Is the scene meant to be shifted in objective
reality from Jerusalem to Hermon, from city
to country, from palace to cottage ?
Or, does the poet down to chapter vii. 10
represent the home-sick and love-sick girl in
one place, the royal palace or Jerusalem, all
the time ; and are the various scenes of the
meetings of the lovers subjective only in vis-
ion, trance, or ecstasy ?
However it may have been exhibited, when,
or if, the cantata was publicly sung or enacted,
we think that all the scenes containing an ap-
parent dialogue between the lovers, except in
the final union in chapter viii., are ideal. The
purpose of the poet is manifestly to represent
the shepherd-lover as invisible until the final
scene of triumph, when he leads this lily, no
longer among thorns, to the gardens of happy
home and marriage. From the opening of the
first scene, until the beginning of the final
lOO HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
ones in chapter viii., the actual movement of
the drama is in or near the royal quarters,
whether in pavilion in Galilee, or palace at
Jerusalem. The lover is seen and heard, re-
membered as in the dream, or thought of as
present in the spirit, but all this is only in the
mind of the Shulamite, who is severed in the
flesh from him.
In other words, this biblical drama is enacted
mainly in the soul of the maiden. The chief
centre of the reader's thought and attention is
the woman's heart, and all else is but subordi-
nate and illustrative. The order of importance
of the characters is, first, the Shulamite ; sec-
ond, the shepherd-lover ; and third, Solomon ;
but the dramatic and psychological importance
of the two men is of small importance. The
real motion and arena are in the feelings of the
woman. As on the Chinese stage, on account
of the gorgeous colors and drapery of the
actors, no scenery is needed, so in this He-
brew drama the changing mood and intense
feelings of the heroine make everything else
only subordinately necessary. The minor char-
acters, indispensable as machinery, might, as
in the drama of Japan, wear masks or blacken
their faces to prevent recognition, yet would
the soul of the Shulamite be visible in all its
moods.
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. lOI
We have called this unique book in the libra-
ry of inspiration a drama, and its various parts,
acts and scenes, not because it has the logical
progress and harmonies of the Greek trage-
dies, for these the Song of Songs has not. It
is lacking in those striking sequences of move-
ment, as well as of thought, which we associate
with the plays of Euripides or Shakespeare.
The change of scene to scene is abrupt, with-
out close connection one with the other, though
there is a plot, development, and climax.
What is even more noticeable is the almost
utter absence of effect of the addresses of the
speaker upon the person addressed. In this
drama of feeling, and not of logic and reason,
each actor seems utterly uninfluenced by the
arguments or inducements of the other, while
all the time the moods of these people who feel
intensely are expressed with the exactness of a
photograph, with the rapidity of rays of light,
and with a variety of words which in their
shadings defy the translator, even as the whole
book mocks and disdains the commentator.
In other words, in this drama we find as the
result of dialogue little modification of ideas,
but much of feeling. Whereas in Western
love-making there is, among men at least, a
dread lest the suitor should give way to his
real emotions, we find here the real lover aban-
102 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
doning himself in a torrent of emotion ; while
in the woman's heart the storm is unceasins:
until peace is won, when the genuine woman
asserts her delight in the kind of coquetry that
gilds man's life and gives it charm,
Hebrew dramatic writing in so far as we
know it, like other poetry of this hot-blooded
people, is intensely subjective, and before the
stress or glow of feeling in the heroine's bosom
all else bends and pales. This idea of the poet
is especially illustrated in the fact that in con-
structing his work he makes at least four of
the scenes, and parts of others, ideal ; that is,
in reminiscence or dream. The two dreams
are notable features, and occur immediately
after the heroine's feelings have been especially
excited. We conclude that it is the object of
the sacred dramatist to keep in shadow and
distance the lover, so that the trials of the "lily
among thorns " may be shown to be all the
more real and severe. The internal dramatic
unity of the poem is most perfectly maintained
in the character of this tried and proved Shu-
lamite, to whom the king and the peasant-lover
are dramatically subordinate.
Further, the love which is pure, holy, and
God-born, is of purpose set forth as far as pos-
sible without trace of coarseness, fleshliness, or
impurity. As stainless as a marble statue is
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. I03
this inspired drama of love. The virgin hero-
ine is absolutely chaste and guileless. The
only possible approach to indelicacy in the
whole poem is found immediately after the de-
scription, by the court ladies, of the dancer of
Mahanaim ; and this brief passage is put into
the mouth of the royal voluptuary, who is in-
dignantly and boldly interrupted by the virgin
heroine.
At this point, chapter vii. 9, second line,
Delitzsch and most Hebraists, even though
differing in their interpretations, agree as to
the fact that the Shulamite interrupts the king.
" The dramatic structure of the Song becomes
here more strongly manifest than elsewhere be-
fore." The reader of the English Bible may
ask, " How do you know this ? " We answer,
that the Shulamite has one invariable desig-
nation for her lover ; which is " my beloved "
{dod), which she never applies to the royal
suitor, and which is never used by Solomon.
It is her language and hers only. Further, as
Delitzsch says, "The text as it stands before
us requires an interchange of the speakers, and
nothing prevents the supposition of such an
interchange."
The various ideal scenes in which the lovers
talk or walk together are in general clearly in-
dicated b} rhetorical guide-marks as manifest
I04 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
as the shifting of actual scenery of board and
canvas on a stage, or the rise and fall of a
curtain. The chief demarkation point is the
refrain of adjuration, — "I adjure you, O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the
hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor
awaken love till it please." This marked fea-
ture in the drama occurring four times, divides
the movement into five separate acts.
The various scenes, which number fourteen
in all, are separated from each other by minor
refrains, such as " My beloved is mine, and I
am his," which occurs three times ; as likewise
the three references to the mountains, by
which three of the scenes are closed. The
reveries, dreams, or night-visions of the Shu-
lamite are indicated by the words which begin
a new scene, "By night on my bed, I sought ;'*
" I sleep, but my heart waketh." The two spec-
tacular scenes in which a procession appears,
and choruses of spectators take part as the
heroine enters Jerusalem in the royal litter, or
returns home with her beloved, are introduced
by the question " Who is this ? " Indeed, con-
sidering that the Song of Songs consists en-
tirely of continuous dialogue without any ex-
ternal marks or prose versicles to guide the
reader, as in Job, the artistic form is all the
more remarkable and its consummate art all
the more demonstrable.
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE.
105
In our view of the poem, the scene of the
first two acts is in the women's quarters of
the royal tents in northern Palestine ; that
of the third and fourth acts is in Jerusalem,
and the palace ; while in the fifth act, the
scene again recurs to the mountain home of
the shepherd and the Shulamite. The divi-
sions of the drama, referred to the chapters
and verses of the English Bible, which with a
few exceptions are similar to those appended
to the Hebrew text, are as follows :
Act I.
Scene I.
Scene II.
Act II.
Scene I.
Scene II.
Act III.
Scene I.
Scene II.
Scene III.
Scene IV.
Act IV.
Scene I.
Scene II.
Scene III
Scene IV.
Act V.
Scene I.
Scene II.
Chapter and Verse.
I. 2-8.
I. 9-n. 7.
II. 8-17.
HI. 1-5.
III. 6-1 1.
IV. 1-7.
IV. 8-V. I.
V. 2-8.
V. 9-VI. 3.
VI. 4-9.
VI. lo-VII. 7.
VII. 8-VIII. 4.
VIII. 5-7.
VIII. 8-14.
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF.
The fate of the finest of Hebrew poems, the
history of the book itself, botli as to its out-
ward form and inward purpose, forms a most
extraordinary chapter in the annals of litera-
ture. We shall here attempt to show how it
came to pass that so simple and beautiful a
piece of poetry was in the process of time
turned into an allegory, and later into a mys-
terious symbol full of the most advanced dog-
matic theology ; and shall then, glancing at its
remarkable literary history, try to explain the
process by which a matchless poem was pul-
verized into common prose.
Let us first explain what an allegory is, giv-
ing several examples ; then detail the process
by which Canticles lost its historic and literal
character, and gained the reputation of hav-
ing a purely mystic nature and purpose, which
did not originally belong to it, and of which
the Bible, apart from uncertain analogies, gives
no hint whatever.
An allegory is the description of one thing
/
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. 107
under the image of another. In an allegory
we use the concrete to enforce the abstract,
represent one thing in pictures or narrative in
order to consider something else. An allegory-
is a metaphor long drawn out, or a chain of
metaphors constantly involving a transfer of
meaning. The current of thought must con-
stantly break contact with the words. All lit-
erature is full of short allegories, like that of
Plato's comparison of the soul to a charioteer
drawn by two horses, one white, the other
black. Shakespeare's text is rich with these
tropical pictures ; but the longest as well as
the most perfect allegories in the English
language are Spencer's " Fairie Queen " and
Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress." On Spencer's
field of the cloth of gold, knights, ladies, lions,
lambs, monsters, and demons move briskly ;
but by these he means to tell us about Holi-
ness, Temperance, Chastity, Mammon, De-
spair, Cruelty, etc. The lions and lambs are
only emblems of virtues. So John Bunyan
pictures a variety of characters, pilgrims, trav-
elers, and shopmen, and shows the every-
day people of middle England two hundred
years ago, and what one may see at Coney
Island, on Broadway, or at a county fair to-
day. The immortal dreamer's object is to
show us moral truths and the temptations,
I08 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
joys, and trials of a Christian on his journey to
Heaven.
An allegory is somewhat different from a
parable ; for a parable is a narrative of im-
agined facts or of events not supposed as a
whole to have actually happened, while an al-
legory is usually a continuation of similitudes
without the signs of comparisons at hand. Its
sense is twofold ; thus, " Israel is a cake not
turned." Parables do not have metaphors in
the telling of them ; the seed is seed, the lamp
is a lamp, the fish a fish. Allegories are full
of metaphors : the grasshopper is some bodily
organ, the silver cord is the spinal marrow, the
golden bowl is the human skull, etc.
There are many allegories in the Bible. In
the eightieth Psalm, Israel is described as a
vine brought out of Egypt, planted, tended,
rent by the wild boars, trampled down, etc.;
which means that the Hebrew nation is in
great distress and has many enemies. The
description of old age in Ecclesiastes, under
the similes belonging to a house, is a superbly
beautiful allegory in which windows, doors, pil-
lars, wheels, pitchers, cisterns, etc., refer to
the eyes, mouth, heart, limbs, and trunk of the
aged human body. Nathan's allegory of the
traveler stealing the poor man's pet lamb is
another example. So also is the parliament of
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. lOQ
the trees and plants in Judges ix., in which
the only one that wants to be king is the
bramble ; as well as the happy family in Isaiah
xi., of the lion and the lamb lying down to-
gether, and a little child leading them.
A first-rate allegory explains itself, and does
not need an interpreter because the interpreta-
tion is transparent to all. You can see the fly
through the amber at once. As, for example,
Christ says, " I am the Vine and my Father
is the Husbandman." Sometimes, however, a
mixed or inferior sort of allegory must be ex-
plained. Then the danger is that the inter-
preter will discover too many coincidences,
and make the application of too many details.
There are some people whose minds revel in
allegories. They would find types, shadows,
meanings, coincidences everywhere. They
ransack the whole Old Testament and reduce
everything to symbolism. They would de-
grade pure history into fiction and try to paint
God's lilies and gild his gold. Wherever the
number three occurs, they discover the doc-
trine of the Trinity ; twelve, the apostles of
Christ ; in the color red, blood ; in this thing
the cross, in that the crown. Every scripture
passage has to them a mystic sense, a deep
hidden signification, and the plainest state-
ment is an emblem of something different.
I lO HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Such people turn the Bible upside down, and
defeat the very purpose of revelation. God's
Word is a book for the race, for plain men, and
till the end of time the grammar and diction-
ary will be the best books to get at what the
writers said and meant ; while common sense,
an humble and willing heart, and prayer for
the Holy "Spirit will be the best aids to under-
stand 'just what God means. Just now the
grammar and dictionary are battering down
the walls of Jewish fables which rabbis have
raised around the Old Testament.
Although the Scriptures are abused and
turned into excess of allegory through unbridled
imagination, or more often through the vagaries
of fancy, we must not despise parables, em-
blems, or types, but must discover, employ,
and enjoy them as the apostles did, — soberly,
carefully, moderately ; as, for instance, in the
Epistle to the Hebrews, one of the sublimest
and most edifying books in the New Testa-
ment.
Sometimes Paul draws an allegory from ac-
tual facts of history, but he does not turn the
history into an allegory ; it is to him actual
narration of facts, but facts so related as to be
typical.
Between Mount Sinai and Jerusalem, be-
tween the son of the slave woman and the
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. Ill
children of the free mother, he draws a com-
parison in Galatians iv. 22-31, This he does
to show Christian freedom by grace as against
bondage to a ceremonial law ; that is, a man is
saved by Christ, and not by the blood of goats
and bullocks ; and his life must be by faith
and good works to God and man, not by ques-
tions of meats and drinks and holy days.
A good allegory is a good thing, but to turn
a whole book of history or poetry founded on
historical facts into an allegory is to smother a
living thing and make it a mummy. It is add-
ing to the scripture something not there and
taking away what is. Paul made use of Hagar
and Sarah to point an argument, but he did
not thereby make the historical fact any the
less true, or the women any less real flesh and
blood of decidedly feminine quality. In show-
ing that freedom was better than slavery, he
did not declare that the story of Abraham's
casting out of Hagar was a fiction or a myth.
Even an apostle had no right to do this. It
was still a fact, and the history is true. Paul
was careful to state what he was doing : said
he, " Which things," that is, which solid facts
of history, ^'contain an allegory, for there are
two covenants," In the Revised Version we
see how clear the apostle makes this matter.
The historic facts are also allegorical, because
112 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
the women represent covenants. He does not
say these events are only an allegory, but that
they contain one. Now from this example of
the inspired apostle let us draw our rule of in-
terpreting the Scriptures of the Old Testament
and especially the Song of Songs.
A tendency to discover allegories may be
as much a proof of poverty of imagination as
of exuberance of fancy, the latter being the
servant of sense, the former the servant of rea-
son. Most of the ten thousand fanciful alle-
gories and meanings which people find in the
Scriptures may be safely rejected. We are to
beware how we consider any Bible history as
allegorical, except that which Christ, the apos-
tles, or inspired persons have treated allegori-
cally. Paul in his use of allegory was strik-
ingly temperate, but the moderation of most
commentators on Canticles is not manifest.
Ever let us proceed soberly and in depend-
ence upon the Holy Spirit. How dare we
turn the Song of Songs, a whole book of the
Bible, into allegories and emblems, when
neither prophet, apostle, nor the Christ gives
us a shadow of right to do so .'' Surely if the
Canticle were an allegory, the New Testament
writers, especially Paul, or the primitive
Christians, would have seized upon it, used it,
and told us this article of their faith.
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. 113
Furthermore, in all allegories there are hints
of their meaning and internal marks of their
mystical design. Any child can soon see what
John Bunyan is teaching in Pilgrim's Progress.
In the Canticle there is nothing of this appa-
ratus of interpretation. Of Christ or of the
Church, of the Virgin Mary, of the Resurrec-
tion, of the history of Christianity, there is in
the language no intimation whatever. Further
yet, even the Jews of Alexandria, or those who
lived in the time of Christ, who were famous
for making allegories, read the Canticle as a
poem with a story, but never as a vehicle of
dogmatics.
Let us now trace the steps which led to the
modern view, such as is set forth in the chap-
ter-headings in the unrevised versions, which
do not — despite the profession of the Bible
Societies — contain " the Holy Scriptures with-
out note or comment," but a mixture. In
these profane additions of printers and com-
mentators to the ancient manuscripts, the
mediaeval view of the Song of Songs is fossil-
ized. Probably the very first trace of the al-
legorical interpretation which identifies the
Church specifically as the bride of the Canticle
is found in a passage in a weak apocryphal
book called the fourth book of Ezra, or 2
Esdras. Luther declared this writing worse
I 14 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
than ^sop's fables. Even the Church of
Rome refuses to receive it as Scripture, and it
is not usually bound up with the other books of
the Apocrypha. In 2 Esdras, v. 23, we read :
" O Lord who bearest rule, from every
wood of the earth, and from all the trees
thereof, thou hast chosen one vine ; and from
all lands of the world thou hast chosen thee
one land ; and from all the flowers thereof one
lily ; and from all the depths of the sea thou
hast filled thee one river; and from all cities
built thou hast hallowed Sion unto thyself ;
and from all flying things that are created
thou hast called thee one dove ; and from all
cattle that are made thou hast provided thee
one sheep ; and from all the multitudes of
peoples thou hast gotten thee one people ; and
unto this people, whom thou lovedst, thou
gavest a law that is approved by all."
Now from this mention of the lily and the
dove, and the one people beloved, and in all
comparisons Israel as the chiefest among ten
thousand, came the idea of the church of Is-
rael, that is of the Old Testament, as a bride ;
which in the seventh chapter and twenty-eighth
verse of this same apocryphal book is thus
spoken of : " For the time shall come, and it
shall come to pass, that when these tokens
which I have told thee of shall come, the bride
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. I15
shall appear and the city shine forth, that is
now withdrawn, for my son Jesus shall be re-.
vealed with those that are with him, and they
that remain shall rejoice for 400 years. And
it shall come to pass after these years, that
my son Christ shall die, and all men that have
breath," etc.
Here then, one thousand years after the
writing of the Canticle, when many of its local
allusions had been forgotten, and the niceties
of its language lost, because Hebrew was a
dead language to the majority, when nearly
every one of the Jews talked Aramaic, Greek,
or other foreign tongues, instead of the ancient
language of Palestine, and when allegory had
reached the point of a craze among learned
m.en, the first germ of the idea of altering
the original meaning of the Song of Songs
came into being. A hundred years later, when
the Jews had rejected Jesus as the Messiah,
and Jerusalem had been destroyed, when He-
brew was rapidly becoming an absolutely dead
language, and the Talmud was being formed,
in which endless tradition wove its web like a
spider over the Old Testament as over a closed
door, then the learned rabbi Akiba completed
in the Jewish church the ascendancy of the
allegorical over the literal interpretation.
Another hundred years later, Origen, the
Il6 HISTORY AND CRiriClSM.
learned divine of Alexandria who first intro-
duced into the Christian church the allegoriz-
ing method, wrote a commentary in ten vol-
umes on the Canticle. In this famous book he
made the Shulamite to mean the Church of
Christ, and Solomon to mean Jesus, and other
persons in the poem to stand for friends or
enemies of the Church. His tremendous au-
thority settled the question and made the or-
thodoxy of the time. To doubt his opinions
was to become a heretic. Grand old fighter of
the heathen, and noble witness to the faith as
he was, he filled the Bible with cobwebs. In
the Middle Ages this system of interpretation
became almost universal. Bernard of Clair-
vaux preached over fourscore sermons on the
first two chapters of the book, and nearly all
commentators until the eighteenth century was
well past, followed along this track.
Now the long-handled dust-brushes of re-
search and new brooms of fresh study — not of
the fathers or of the Jewish rabbis, but of the
Bible itself — are sweeping away these purely
human imaginations. We are more and more
seeing as the Israelites of two thousand and
more years ago saw, and reading as they read.
We do not now go to the Jews to learn He-
brew or find out what the Old Testament
means. We go to the original Scriptures them-
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. WJ
selves. Believing that the Lord is in his holy-
temple, we expect all the earth to keep silence
before Him. We listen to the lively oracles
while the voices of scribe and commentator
are stilled. The Jews, since the Talmud was
formed, have not been nor are they now fed
on the pure milk of the Word. They are
nursed on rabbinical notions. The veil over
their eyes is this Talmud. Probably not more
than one out of a thousand can or does read
the Old Testament in a fair, and unprejudiced
manner. They wear the spectacles put on
their eyes by the Talmudical writers, without
even suspecting it. But let us as Christians
beware lest we too err in like manner, by be-
ing led away by the fathers, or the commen-
tators, or the makers of chapter-headings or
church lectionaries.
Origen was a man of extremes. Because
he at first took the Bible too literally, and
on the strength of Christ's words about the
offending member actually mutilated himself,
he afterwards went to the other extreme and
took nothing literally. He borrowed the intel-
lectual vices of heathen teachers, and applied
to the Holy Scriptures a method of interpre-
tation radically false. He found three or four
senses in every text. Said he : " The Scrip-
tures are of little use to those who understand
Il8 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
them as the}^ are written." Hence he ever
sought for the hidden and mysterious mean-
ings, and many people still follow him, revel-
ing in the delights of turning one simple
piece of glass into a kaleidoscope, and the
Bible into a secret society's lodge -room and
chamber of mystery. Let us rather follow
Christ and Paul, be very sparing of the use of
allegory, and travel on the humble but safe
road of Bible facts.
We need not go any further and trace out
the full history of this unbiblical interpreta-
tion of the book before us, nor show how
Origen's successors enlarged upon his views,
and how subsequent interpreters found nearly
everything, even down to the last absurdities
of sectarian rhapsody, in the Canticle. This
one book has stood for many centuries among
the other Scriptures like the heroine of it —
cast out of her own place, having no vineyard
of her own, keeping the vineyards of her moth-
er's sons, but her own not kept. Being the
first of the five Megilloth or rolls, it is read
annually once at the feast of the Passover, but
is otherwise neglected by the Jewish people.
The Church of England has cast it out of her
tables of Scripture lessons, though retaining
portions of the apocryphal books, such as
Tobit, Baruch, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus ;
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. II9
and, emboldened by her example, editors of
the Bible in private translation reject this
book and insert instead texts from Babylonian
Tablets. Alchemists, fortune-tellers, and pol-
iticians have let loose their vagrant fancies
upon it, until this divine picture of love has
lain buried under the rubbish and whitewash
of ages of nonsense. Nor is this assertion
any the less true because devout souls have in
every age found in this writing the parable of
the soul's affections and their vocabulary of
adoration. Suffice it to say that, on the other
hand, since Theodoret of Syria, who died a. d.
457, there have always been Christian scholars
who have denied anything either impure in
the thought or language of the book, or that it
needed an occult scheme of philosophy to ex-
plain it, or that it was an allegory relating to
Christ and the Church.
Now, thanks to the labors of many students
in many countries, yet all coming to substan-
tial agreement, the ancient understanding of
it has been regained. Many ministers of the
gospel believe, even if they hesitate to preach,
the original ancient view, while in a few of
our own theological seminaries the simple
natural interpretation is taught and demon-
strated. It is shown that the title " Song of
Solomon " is a literary anachronism and does
I20 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
not belong to the book, but has been added by
tradition ; while its own contents prove that
Solomon did not write it ; and finally that the
first and oldest translation of the book from
Hebrew into Greek, made three centuries be-
fore Christ, lends no color to the popular idea
of an allegory. The same may be declared of
the pre-Christian works of Hebrew literature
entitled the book of Ecclesiasticus, The Wis-
dom of Solomon, and the writings of Josephus.
To sum up what has been said concerning
the internal purpose: (i) There is not a word
or a scrap of evidence in the Old or New Tes-
tament that gives basis to the notion that
the Song of Songs refers in detailed allegory
to Christ and the Church, or that bears out
this fanciful interpretation. This turning of
the poem into an allegory began long after the
time of Christ, and was introduced into the
Christian Church by Origen, but the Bible
gives no countenance to it.
(2) We are to remember that all the head-
ings of chapters and pages, as well as the
divisions of the texts of the Bible into chap-
ters and verses, are the work of printers, edi-
tors, and uninspired men, and have no divine
or rational authority. This method of surrep-
titious note and comment, amounting virtu-
ally to a system of interpretation, is no part of
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. 121
Holy Scripture, and it improperly influences
many people in their conception of the mean-
ing of God's Word.
(3) We are to bear in mind that the words
printed in italics are not found in the original
language, but are put in simply to make sense
or complete sentences, so as to read more ea-
sily in English. Very often these words ob-
scure rather than make clear the intent of a
passage, and Bible students will often find that
a verse becomes stronger, clearer, and better
in every way by omitting the italics. Often
they unwarrantably convert a lively metaphor
or a little allegory into a prosy simile or com-
parison.
Further, there is not one book in the Eng-
lish version of the Bible, called " King James's,"
except possibly Job, that needed more revision
and retranslation than the Song of Songs, and
for the closer approach to its dramatic struc-
ture, made by the revisers of 1884, we should
be grateful.
Concerning the external history of the poem,
the mutations in its literary form, our words
need not be many. The ordinary reader of
the English Bible notices that in the version
of 1884, not only the Song of Songs, but
the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Lamenta-
tions, and even parts of Deuteronomy and
122 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
Judges, are printed in a fashion that reveals,
to some extent, the poetic structure of the
original. Easily distinguishable to the eye
from the mass of prose, even the song of
Lamech stands out like a crystal of garnet in
its bed of rock.
Much as has already been done towards im-
proving the outward guise, as well as develop-
ing the real meaning and inward spirit of the
sacred writings, more yet remains to be ac-
complished. The researches of scholars into
the literary history of Israel, into the nature
of the Hebrew language, and their prolonged
critical examination of the texts, have revealed
beauties of structure and artistic forms never
dreamed of since this vehicle of revelation
became a dead language. Even yet, with all
the wealth of scholarship lavished upon the
subject, the record of the psalmists, prophets,
and poets of the Old Testament still remains
like the negative of a photograph which has
been imperfectly developed. A version, a
translation, is like a copy printed from the
original, in which clearness of impression,
tone, light, and shade, and all the details that
go to form a perfect picture, are according to
the skill and resources of the operator. Other
exquisite poems, now unrecognizable as such
in the common prose of the Old Testament,
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. 1 23
are yet to stand out clearly in a perfected ver-
sion.
The student of the English Bible may ask
how it came to pass that the poetry of the He-
brews was turned into prose. How happened
it that the mass even of Jewish worshipers in
modern times, though hearing the sacred rolls
read in the synagogue so often, never sus-
pected the beauty of the real form within the
words they listened to or chanted } Like the
men of two centuries ago who looked upon a
fossil as only a freak of nature, or an Oriental
shepherd who to-day feeds his flock ignorantly
among Corinthian capitals or cuneiform in-
scriptions, there was no suspicion of the origi-
nal purpose and the actual truth. Utterly lost
as to its intrinsic charms, the Song of Songs,
as read alike in the synagogue in mediaeval and
modern times, and in the English Bible, was
like the mounds of earth which in Egypt and
Chaldea cover grand ruins.
The story of decay, ruin, sleep, and resurrec-
tion of the exquisite poem of the Canticle is
somewhat like that of an ancient city, except
that the lapses happened under guardians and
not under enemies. Composed probably in
the age of classic Hebrew in northern Israel,
its delicate allusions and local color were for-
gotten in later centuries. When, too, Hebrew
124 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
ceased to be spoken and became a dead lan-
guage, lost to poets and original writers, and
only a corpse to be embalmed or dissected by-
scribes and dogmatists, its poetry was forgot-
ten. The ear and eye of proof-text hunter
and disputant of words became dull to literary
beauties and harmonies, and the cast of mind
common to the Jews was that of the Chinese
scholars to-day, between whom and the post-
biblical Hebrews there are surprising points
of likeness.
Yet these men of Talmud-making times
were, after all, only famous according as they
lifted up axes upon thick trees, and reduced
the living forest of Hebrew inspired literature
to a mass of dead timber. They did indeed
preserve this timber most carefully by an elab-
orately artificial system. The traditional pro-
nunciation of the words of the Scriptures was
embalmed in a remarkable system of dots,
dashes, and other diacritical marks represent-
ing vowels, and which to the eye appear not
vastly different from the telegraphic alphabet.
These tiny marks written outside the letter, or
inside of its " bosom " without touching its
outline, represent the vowels, double the con-
sonants, and otherwise preserve or affect the
sense of the writing. Yet after the best is
said that can be said about this Massoretic
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. 12$
or traditional system, it represents tradition,
and tlie tradition only of a time later than
the period when the Hebrew was a living lan-
guage. Providentially, it may be, this highly
artificial system, the growth of centuries, pre-
served from absolute extinction the Hebrew
records.
As if, however, the change from a living to
a dead language were not enough, the artistic
beauty of Hebrew poetry was still further de-
stroyed by the new and peculiar use of the
Scriptures in the synagogue. Now came the
blows of hammers on the carved work. Any
one who attends upon the modern worship of
the Jews knows how large a part of the service
consists of chanting by the congregation, or
reading of the rolls by the preacher, who is a
" reader of the law." When the utterances
and writings of the holy men of Israel were no
longer stern law, eloquent prophecy, or exqui-
site poetry, when inspiration had ceased, when
temple and sacrifices were no more, and mere
erudition or tradition-making occupied the He-
brew wise men, then the whole body of Scrip-
ture was reduced to a mass of " edifying "
reading, or material for synagogue chants.
The living word of God was thus turned into a
formal liturgy, the exponent of fossilized Jew-
ish orthodoxy.
126 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
To fit this artificial method of using the in-
spired Word, an elaborate system of marks,
tones, and accents was gradually developed and
set upon the Scripture text ; at first honestly,
on it but not of it. As cunningly as a spider
weaves its web over a flower-bed was this
wonderful system which facilitated cantillation
woven over the ancient texts, hi time, these
reading marks became Holy Scripture to the peo-
ple. The old Bible of Jesus and Paul and John
was transformed to the popular mind into a dead
unity of orthodox and edifying reading matter.
Its marvelous diversity of literary form was
forgotten in dull uniformity. Jews and Chris-
tians alike came to believe in the divine inspi-
ration even of this double system of points and
accents, which as with axes and hammers had
broken down the carved work of the once
splendid temple of living literature. For cen-
turies the marvelous beauties of form, and the
spirit and meaning of their ancestral poetry,
were forgotten even by the Jews themselves.
Practically .unknown to Christian scholars un-
til the Reformation period, the Hebrew re-
mained unstudied, and the Church inherited
unsuspectingly the vast mass of Jewish tradi-
tion. Even when the language of the Old
Testament was studied in the universities of
Europe and America, it was in the spirit of the
HISTORY OF THE BOOK ITSELF. 12/
scribes and lawyers, against whom Jesus con-
stantly sent the shafts of his criticism.
Hence, though there was vast erudition, and
mighty stores in the memory, and much stuff-
ing of texts into dogmatic cartridges, there was
little real understanding of the Bible as litera-
ture. It has been only during the past century
that the critical and comparative methods, so
commended of our Lord Jesus, have been
adopted by scholars. The fruit of the toil of
the great Hebraists is now before us, and into
their labors we may wisely enter. In the Re-
vised Version of 1884, a very cautious and ul-
tra-conservative use of the materials accumu-
lated has been made use of in the text, though
a more generous and courageous utilization of
them is found in the margin. For even this
result, compromise though it be, we ministers
and Bible readers may be thankful. The day
may yet come when this one of the deathless
literatures of the world may be restored to us.
To the recovery of the Old Testament as
matchless literature, as a temple of glory and
delights into which even the ordinary English
reader may enter to behold a miracle of purity,
beauty, and divine love, the Revision of 1884
has grandly contributed. Whether it shall be
accepted in its present form or not, it will serve,
nay it has already served, to overthrow the
128 HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
idols that have too long held their place in the
Christian church, like the Baalim beside Jeho-
vah's altar. The revisers have not only helped
to show us that he who builded the house hath
more honor than the house, but that He that
built all things is God.
PART II.
THE TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
THE REVISED VERSION OF A. D. 1SS4.*
1 THE SONG OF SONGS.
(which is Solomon's.)
ACT I. SCENE I.
(/« (/le women'' s quarters of the royal tents. Court Ladies and
the Shulamite.)
COURT LADY.
2 Let him kiss me vsrith the kisses of his mouth :
For thy love is better than wine.
CHORUS.
3 Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance;
Thy name is as ointment poured forth ;
Therefore do the ^ virgins love thee.
4 Draw me ;
* Unaltered as to words, except in chapter iv. 5-7.
^ Or, maidens.
130 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
CHORUS.
we will run after thee :
The king hath brought me into his chambers :
CHORUS.
We will be glad and rejoice in thee,
We will make mention of thy love more than of
wine :
^ Rightly do they love thee.
SHULAMITE.
5 I am black,
CHORUS.
but comely,
SHULAMITE.
O ye daughters of Jerusalem.
As the tents of Kedar,
CHORUS.
as the curtains of Solomon.
SHULAMITE.
6 Look not upon me, because I am swarthy,
Because the sun hath ^ scorched me.
My mother's sons were incensed against me,
They made me keeper of the vineyards ;
But mine own vineyard have I not kept.
^ Or, In uprightness. ^ Or, looked upon.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 131
7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
Where thou feedest thy fiock, where thou
makest // to rest at noon :
For why should I be as one that ^ is veiled
Beside the flocks of thy companions ?
8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
SCENE II.
{Royal tent. Solomon and the Shulamite.)
SOLOMON.
9 I have compared thee, O "^ my love,
* To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots,
10 Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair.
Thy neck with strings of jewels.
11 We will make thee plaits of gold
With studs of silver.
SHULAMITE.
12 While the king sat at his table,
My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is unto me as a * bundle of myrrh,
That lieth betwixt my breasts.
1 Most ancient versions have, wandereth.
2 Or, my friend (and so throughout).
' Or, To the steeds. Or, To my steed.
* Or, bag.
132 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of ^henna-
flowers
In the vineyards of En-gedi.
SOLOMON.
15 Behold, thou art fair, my love 3 behold, thou art
fair ;
'^ Thine eyes are as doves.
SHULAMITE.
16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant :
Also our couch is green.
SOLOMON.
1 7 The beams of our ^ house are * cedars,
And our rafters are ^ firs.
2
SHULAMITE.
1 I am a ^ rose of ' Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
SOLOMON.
2 As a lily among thorns.
So is my love among the daughters.
SHULAMITE.
3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my beloved among the sons.
1 Heb. copher. ^ Or, T/tou hast doves' eyes.
8 Or, houses. * Or, of cedar . . . of fir.
^' Or, cypresses. ^ Heb. habazzeleth, the autumn crocus.
^ Or, the plain.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 1 33
*I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the ^banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love.
5 Stay ye me with "raisins, comfort me with
apples :
For I am sick of love.
6 * His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand doth embrace me.
7 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the ® roes, and by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.
ACT II. SCENE I.
(The Shulamite' s reminiscence of her lover^s visit.')
SHULAMITE.
8 The voice of my beloved ! behold, he cometh,
Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the
hills.
9 My beloved is like a ® roe or a young hart :
Behold, he standeth behind our wall,
He looketh in at the windows,
1 Heb. / delighted and sat down etc.
2 W&h. house of -vine. ^ Yi&h. cakes of raisins,
* Or, Let his left handht etc. ^ Or, gazelles.
8 Or, gazelle.
134 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
He ^ sheweth himself through the lattice,
10 My beloved spake, and said unto me,
THE LOVER.
" Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
1 1 For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone ;
The flowers appear on the earth ;
The time of the ^singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our
land ;
13 The fig tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their fragrance.
Arise^ my love, my fair one, and come away.
14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in
the covert of the steep place.
Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy
voice ;
For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is
comely."
SONG.
15 ''Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil
the vineyards ;
For our vineyards are in blossom."
SHULAMITE.
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his :
He feedeth his flock among the lilies.
1 Or, glanceth through. ^ Or, pruning of vines.
THE SONG OF SONGS. I 35
1 7 * Until the day '^ be cool, and the shadows flee
away,
Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a ^ roe or a
young hart
Upon the * mountains of ^ Bether.
SCENE II.
(/« a dream, the Skulaniite seeks and finds her lover, \
3
1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my
soul loveth :
I sought him, but I found him not.
2 / said, " I will rise now, and go about the city,
In the streets and in the broad ways,
I will seek him whom my soul loveth ; "
I sought him, but I found him not.
3 The watchmen that go about the city found me :
To w/iom I said, " Saw ye him whom my soul
loveth ? "
4 It was but a little that I passed from them,
When I found him whom my soul loveth :
I held him, and would not let him go.
Until I had brought him into my mother's
house.
And into the chamber of her that conceived me.
1 Or, When the day is cool.
2 Or, break. Heb. breathe.
8 Or, gazelle.
* Or, montitains of separation.
5 Perhaps, the spice malobathron.
136 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
5 ^I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.
ACT III. SCENE I.
{^A royal procession in the streets of jferusalem. Citizens
talking!)
CHORUS OF PEOPLE.
6 Who is this that cometh up out of the wilder-
ness like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all powders of the merchant ?
CITIZEN.
7 Behold, it is the litter of Solomon ;
Threescore mighty men are about it,
Of the mighty men of Israel.
8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in
war :
Ever}' man hath his sword upon his thigh,
Because of fear in the night.
CITIZEN.
9 King Solomon made himself a * palanquin
Of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made the pillars thereof of silver,
^ See ch. ii. 7. 2 Or, car of state.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 1 37
The bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of
purple,
The midst thereof being ^ paved with love,
From the daughters of Jerusalem.
CHORUS OF PEOPLE.
II Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold
king Solomon,
With the crown wherewith his mother hath
crowned him in the day of his espousals,
And in the day of the gladness of his heart.
SCENE II.
(Solomon'' s visit to the Shulamite in the palace in Jerusalem.)
4
SOLOMON.
1 Behold, thou art fair, my love ; behold, thou art
fair;
^ Thine eyes are as doves behind thy ^ veil :
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
That ^lie along the side of mount Gilead.
2 Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly
shorn,
Which are come up from the washing ;
^Whereof every one hath twins,
And none is bereaved among them.
1 Or, itilaid. ^ Or, Thojt hast doves' eyes.
8 Or, locks. ■ * Or, appear ojt mount Gilead.
6 Or, Which are all of them in pairs.
138 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,
And thy ^ mouth is comely :
Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate
Behind thy '^ veil.
4 Thy neck is like the tower of David builded ' for
an armoury,
Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers,
All the shields of the mighty men.
5 Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins
of a * roe.
7 Thou art all fair, my love ;
And there is no spot in thee.
SHULAMITE.
My beloved is mine, and I am his, *
Who feedeth his flock among the lilies.
6 ^ Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee
away,
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh,
And to the hill of frankincense.
1 Or, speech. "^ Ox, locks. ^ Or, with turrets.
* Or, gazelle. ^ See ch. ii. 17.
* For the re-arrangemeiu of the text in verses 5-7, see
pages 204-207.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 1 39
SCENE III.
( The Shulamite and her lover, in ideal interview.)
THE LOVER.
8 " Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
With me from Lebanon :
^ Look from the top of Amana,
From the top of Senir and Hermon,
From the Uons' dens,
From the mountains of the leopards.
9 Thou hast ^ ravished my heart, my sister, my
bride ;
Thou hast ^ravished my heart with ^one of
thine eyes.
With one chain of thy neck.
10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride !
How much better is thy love than wine !
And the smell of thine ointments than all man-
ner of spices !
11 Thy lips, O my bride, *drop as the honeycomb :
Honey and milk are under thy tongue ;
And the smell of thy garments is like the smell
of Lebanon.
12 A garden ®shut up is my sister, my bride ;
A ® spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
^ Or, Go. 2 Or, given me courage.
^ Or, 07ie look /rom thine eyes.
* Ox, drop honey. ^ Heb. barred.
8 Or, according to many ancient authorities, garden.
140 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
13 Thy shoots are ^ an orchard of pomegranates,
with precious fruits ;
Henna with spikenard plants,
14 Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frank-
incense ;
Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
15 Thou art a fountain of gardens,
A well of living waters.
And flowing streams from Lebanon."
SHULAMITE.
16 Awake, O north wind ; and come, thou south ;
Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof
may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
And eat his precious fruits.
THE LOVER.
" I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride :
I have gathered my myrrh with my ^ spice ;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
\Aside.'\ Eat, O friends ;
Drink, yea, drink abundantl}', ^O beloved."
1 Or, a paradise. 2 Or, balsam. 2 Qj-^ of love.
THE SONG OF SONGS. I4I
SCENE IV.
(First Dream of the Shulatnite.)
SHULAMITE.
2^1 was asleep, but my heart waked :
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh,
saying,
THE LOVER.
"Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my
'undefiled :
For my head is filled with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night."
SHULAMITE.
3 I have put off my coat ; how shall I put it on ?
I have washed my feet ; how shall I defile them ?
4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the
door,
And my ^ heart was moved ^ for him.
5 I rose up to open to my beloved ;
And my hands dropped with myrrh,
And my fingers with liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved ;
But my beloved had ^ withdrawn himself, and was
gone.
My soul ® had failed me when he spake :
^ Or, / sleep, but my heart waketh.
2 Y{&\). perfect. 3 Heh. dowe/s.
* According to many MSS., within me.
^ Or, turned away. *" Heb. went forth.
142 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
I sought him, but I could not find him ;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7 The watchmen that go about the city found me.
They smote me, they wounded me ;
The keepers of the walls took away my ^ mantle
from me.
TO THE LADIES.
8 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye
find my beloved.
That ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
2
ACT IV. SCENE I.
{Dialogue about the Beloved.)
CHORUS OF LADIES.
9 What is thy beloved more than another heXov&d,
O thou fairest among women ?
What is thy beloved more than another beloved.
That thou dost so adjure us ?
SHULAMITE.
ID My beloved is white and ruddy,
*The chiefest among ten thousand.
11 His head is as the most fine gold.
His locks are * bushy, and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks ;
Washed with milk, and ^ fitly set.
1 Or, veil.
2 Heb. What will ye tell him? That,ete.
3 Heb. Marked out by a banner.
^ Ox^ curling. ^ Or, sitting by ful/ sfrt am s.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 1 43
13 His cheeks are as a bed of * spices, as ^ banks of
sweet herbs :
His lips are as Hlies, dropping liquid myrrh.
14 His hands are as ^ rings of gold set with ^ beryl :
His body is as ^ ivory work ® overlaid with sap-
phires.
15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sock-
ets of fine gold :
His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the
cedars.
16 His ' mouth is most sweet : yea, he is altogether
lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
6
CHORUS OF LADIES.
1 Whither is thy beloved gone,
O thou fairest among women "i
Whither hath thy beloved turned him,
That we may seek him with thee ?
SHULAMITE.
2 My beloved is gone down to his garden, to
the beds of ^ spices,
To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
1 Ox, balsam. 2 Ox , towers of perfumes.
^ Or, cylinders. * Or, topaz.
^ Or, bright ivory. ^ Or, encrusted.
' Or, speech. Heh. pa/ate.
144 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
3 ^ I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine :
He feedeth his flock among the lilies.
SCENE 11.
{Solomon'' s third wooing. His praises of the Shulamite.)
SOLOMON.
4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah,
Comely as Jerusalem,
Terrible as ^ an army with banners.
5 Turn away thine e3'es from me,
For they ^have overcome me.
* Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
That lie along the side of Gilead.
6 ^Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes,
Which are come up from the washing;
Whereof every one hath twins,
And none is bereaved among them.
7 ®Thy temples are like a piece of a pome-
granate
Behind thy veil.
8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore
concubines,
And "^ virgins without number.
9 My dove, my ^ undefiled, is but one ;
She is the only one of her mother ;
^ See chap. ii. i6. ^ Heb. bannered hosts.
^ Or, make me afraid. * See chap. iv. I.
^ See chap. iv. 2. ^ See chap. iv. 3.
' Or, maidens. ^ Heb. fe^-fect.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 1 45
She is the ^ choice one of her that bare her.
The daughters saw her, and called her
blessed ;
Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they
praised her.
SCENE III.
( The Shulamite narrates an incident in her life, and dances
before the ladies of the court.)
CHORUS OF LADIES.
10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
'^ Clear as the sun,
* Terrible as an army with banners ?
SHULAMITE.
Ill went down into the garden of nuts,
To see the green plants of the valley.
To see whether the vine budded,
And the pomegranates were in flower.
12 Or ever I was aware, my * soul ^set me
Among the chariots of my ® princely people.
CHORUS.
13 Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon thee.
1 Or, Tia-e. 2 Qr, pure.
3 See ver. 4. * Or, desire,
* Or, made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib.
^ Or, willing.
146 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
SHULAMITE.
Why will ye look upon the Shulamite ?
CHORUS.
As upon the dance ^ of Mahanaim.
7
( The ladies, admiring the dancer.)
1 How beautiful are thy * feet in sandals, O
prince's daughter !
' The joints of thy thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a cunning workman.
2 Thy navel is like a round goblet.
Wherein no mingled wine is wanting :
Thy belly is like an heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
3 *Thy two breasts are like two fawns
That are twins of a roe.
4 Thy neck is like the tower of ivory;
Thine eyes as the pools in Heshbon, by the
gate of Bath-rabbim ;
Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looketh toward Damascus.
5 Thine head upon thee is like Carmel,
And the hair of thine head ^ like purple ;
The king is held captive in the tresses
thereof.
1 Or, of two companies. ^ Or, steps.
^ Or, Thy rounded thighs. * See ch. iv. 5.
^ Some ancient versions have, like the purple of a king,
bound, etc.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 1 47
6 How fair and how pleasant art thou,
0 love, for delights !
7 This thy stature is like to a palm tree,
And thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
SOLOMON.
8 I said, "I will climb up into the palm tree,
1 will take hold of the branches thereof :
Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine,
And the smell of thy ^breath like apples ;
9 And thy - mouth like the best wine " —
SHULAMITE [interrupting).
That goeth down ' smoothly for my beloved,
* Gliding through the lips of those that are
asleep.
(Her final decision.")
10 I am my beloved's,
And his desire is toward me.
SHULAMITE {to her expected lover).
11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the
field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards ;
Let us see whether the vine hath budded, and
^ its blossom be open,
1 Heb. nose. ^ Heh. palate. * Heb. aright.
* Or, Causing the lips of those that are asleep to move or
speak.
^ Or, the tender grape appear.
148 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
And the pomegranates be in flower :
There will I give thee my love.
13 The ^ mandrakes give forth fragrance,
And * at our doors are all manner of precious
fruits, new and old.
Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.
8
1 Oh that thou wert as my brother.
That sucked the breasts of my mother !
When I should find thee without, I would kiss
thee ;
Yea, and none would despise me.
2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my
mother's house,
* Who would instruct me ;
I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,
Of the ^ juice of my pomegranate.
3 ^ His left hand should be under my head,
And his right hand should embrace me.
( To the ladies.)
4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
® That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,
Until it please.
^ See Gen. xxx. 14. ^ Or, over.
^ Or, That thou mightest. * Or, szveet wine.
^ See ch. ii. 6, 7.
® Heb. Why should ye stir uf ? or why, etc.
THE SONG OF SONGS. 1 49
ACT V. SCENE I.
(The Shepherd-lover and the Shulamite approaching their
mountain hotne.)
CHORUS OF COUNTRY PEOPLE.
5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilder-
ness,
Leaning upon her beloved ?
SHULAMITE.
Under the apple tree I awakened thee
There thy mother was in travail with thee,
There 'was she in travail ^ that brought thee
forth.
( The bride's prayer.)
6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal
upon thine arm :
For love is strong as death ;
Jealousy is ^ cruel as ® the grave :
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
* A very flame of ^ the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can the floods drown it :
If a man would give all the substance of his
house for love,
® He would utterly be contemned.
1 Or, and. 2 Heb. hard.
3 Heb. Sheol. * Or, A most vehement ^me.
6 Heb. yah. 6 Or, It.
150 TEXT IN THE REVISED VERSION.
ACT V. SCENE II.
( The Bride and he7- brothers. Parable of the two vineyards.)
FIRST BROTHER.
8 We have a little sister,
And she hath no breasts :
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she shall be spoken for ?
SECOND BROTHER.
9 If she be a wall,
We will build upon her ^ a turret of silver :
THIRD BROTHER.
And if she be a door,
We will inclose her with boards of cedar.
SHULAMITE.
10 I ^am a wall, and my breasts like the towers
thereof :
Then was I in his eyes as one that found
peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon ;
He let out the vineyard unto keepers \
Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring
a thousand //^(T^rx of silver.
12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me :
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,
1 Or, battlevtents. 2 Qr, was.
THE SONG OF SONGS. I 5 I
And those that keep the fruit thereof two
hundred.
LOVER AND BRIDEGROOM.
13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
The companions hearken ^ for tliy voice :
Cause me to hear it.
SHULAMITE.
14^ Make haste, my beloved,
And be thou like to a ^ roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.
1 Or, to. 2 Heb. Flee. » Or, gazelle.
PART III.
STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
ACT I. SCENE I.
THE VINEYARD-GIRL IN THE KING's HAREM.
Chapter I. i-S.
The curtain rises upon a scene of Orien-
tal splendor. It is springtime in the land of
Issachar. Solomon and the royal household
are on a pleasure tour in the northern part of
his dominions. In one of the "fat valleys"
between the mountains of Tabor and Gilboa,
near the hill of Little Hermon, the royal tents
are pitched. Horses and chariots, state-palan-
quins, gorgeous trappings, and brilliantly uni-
formed body-guards, snow-white pavilions and
luxuriant camp equipage, compel comparison
with the loveliness of the natural foreground
and the grandeur of the distant scenery.
Vineyards, wheat -fields, and olive gardens
full of life, labor, song, and color, with vine-
clad cottages and flocks of sheep under shade
VINEYARD-GIRL IN KING'S HAREM. I 53
in sight of shepherds fill the foreground. It
is the time of the washing and shearing of
fleece, and busy have been the owners of the
rams and ewes at the Jordan and its affluents.
Rising out of the water, and frisking up the
mountain sides of Gilead across the river, their
snowy coats glisten in the distance, contrasting
with the sleek black hair of the goats that lie
or gambol along the mountain side. Every-
where from the dove-cotes is heard the cooing
of the happy pet-birds, blending with the soft
voices of the turtle and the shy rock-pigeon.
The dark-green leaves and scarlet blossoms of
the pomegranate adorn the gardens, and the
air is laden with the fragrance of gums, grasses,
and all manner of nature's perfumes. Afar off
gleams the snow-crown of " the white moun-
tain," Lebanon ; westward is Carmel and the
plain of Esdraelon ; while southward are the
ever-fertile valleys of Ephraim, and to the
west lie the Jordan valley and the hills of
Manasseh.
Dazzling to the eyes of the rustics must
have been this court splendor brought into
their neighborhood. Familiar with the black
goat's-hair cloth tents of the Kedar Ishma-
elites who wandered restlessly from place to
place, they had as yet seen no such upholstery
and pomp as that of Solomon's. Those who
154 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
looked within these temporary palaces of lux-
ury, or even caught glimpses of the interiors
filled with ivory and jewels, India perfumes,
and strange pets, went home to tell wonderful
stories to eager listeners. The height of in-
terest was reached when it was bruited about
at well-curb and evening rest that a maiden
of Shunem had been invited — when invita-
tion meant command, and disobedience peril —
to join the king's harem. What a dazzling
vista opened to the imagination of the country
maids and vineyard toilers, as they thought of
one of their number estabUshed amid such
magnificence, with no hard work to soil the
hands or exposure to brown the face, with ser-
vants and finest clothing and perfume and
music and dancing all the day long. All that
could fascinate youth, when the senses are
most keen, and fancy is most warm, and day-
dreams are most bright, lay in the royal invita-
tion. In a few days the tents would be broken
up, the cavalcade move to Jerusalem, and then
the young girl would behold the splendors of
the capital, where silver and gold were as com-
mon as stones, and cedarwood as plentiful as
fig-mulberry in the lowlands. Who would not
envy the good fortune of their neighbor ? But,
let us glance within.
It is upon the royal harem that the poet
VINEYARD-GIRL IN KING'S HAREM. I 55
bids US look. Out of his mighty host of
women who live to amuse the king, he has
selected as part of his traveling household
sixty ladies of noble rank, eighty of the grade
called pilcgesJi or secondary wives, with per-
haps hundreds of fair young girls who are
attendants, musicians, and dancers, together
with the ordinary women servants. Only one
idea, one ambition, have these ladies of the
court : it is to please Solomon, to enjoy his
favor, his condescension, and to receive tokens
of his regard in gifts or the honor of his
presence. Hear them !
Lady. O for a kiss from the kisses of his
mouth, for thy love is better than wine.
In enthusiastic agreement, the other ladies
join in the praise of the king.
Chorus. Sweet is the fragrance of thy perfumes,
but thy name itself is as ointment poured out ; be-
cause of this, the maidens love thee.
Has the maid of Shunem listened to these
praises, or does she here enter, and is it her
voice which speaks }
Solo. The king has brought me into his apart-
ments.
Chorus. We will be glad and rejoice with thee,
we will celebrate thy caresses more than wine ;
rightly do they love thee.
156 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
Or does the chorus respond to a wish —
since the words might be rendered, " O that
the king would bring me " — expressed by one
longing for royal favor ?
Readers may differ in reproducing the first
part of the opening scene to eye and ear, but
at verse fifth the Shulamite speaks, as the poet
does, with no uncertain sound. It is no pallid
beauty of the harem, but a child of out-door
life who says, probably in answer to their in-
quiring glances, and possibly having just en-
tered :
" I am dark " — " but comely," interrupt the
ladies.
" O ye daughters of Jerusalem," continues
the Shulamite, "as the tents of Kedar" — "as
the curtains of Solomon," they rejoin flatter-
ingly.
In her own eyes she is sunburnt and swarthy,
and like the dark goat's-hair cloth of the shep-
herd's tents of the tribe of Kedar; but they
praise her rustic beauty as comparable with
the royal upholstery.
" Look not in disdain upon me, because I am
tanned, because the sun has looked hard at me.
My mother's sons were severe with me, they made
me keeper of their vineyards, but my own vineyard
I have neglected to keep."
Here the heroine of the poem gives us a
VINEYARD-GIRL IN KING'S HAREM. I 57
little bit of autobiography. In terms of true
Oriental self-depreciation, in which every one,
especially a girl, is trained from infancy to
speak, she has described her neglected per-
sonal appearance, which seems to herself in
such marked contrast with that of the hand-
somely attired and soft-complexioned women
around her. In the full dress of a state occa-
sion, or in society where the chief work of life
is to wear fine clothes, even a man feels keenly
the pain of not having on the appropriate gar-
ments. How much more a woman, to whom
the love of beautiful raiment is innate, and in
whose sex the tyranny of costume is relentless.
For one like the girl from the country, who is
chosen for Solomon's pleasure, as with Esther
for Ahasuerus, preparation was doubtless made
as to a fitting wardrobe, but yet the sun-
browned face could not at once take on the
more delicate and pallid hue of those who lived
in ease within doors.
Rightly or wrongly, some one is to blame
for this, and the maiden from the vineyards
lets us into another secret of her home life, as
she becomes communicative with the other
women. Her step-brothers — so we take them
to be, for she calls them her " mother's," not
her father's, sons — have not been generous
with her. Not only has the sun been scorch-
158 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
ing in its effect upon her face, but the heat of
their anger has been severe against her. By a
pretty play on words, the poet places her be-
tween two fires. So, with a young girl's ex-
aggeration, and with prismatics of wit which
are better appreciated in the Hebrew than in
the English, the author introduces the step-
brothers as the second group of the minor
characters in the cantata, the ladies of the
harem being the fiirst. Three times or more in
the piece are the step-brothers heard from.
These burly fellows, hard-headed countrymen
as they seem in their matter-of-fact humor and
practical view of things, are really the guard-
ians of their "little sister" (viii. 8), and make
not only her behavior, but her matrimonial
prospects, their concern (viii. 8-9).
According to the ancient law of Israel, to
use the words of Ewald, " The special and
most natural protectors of a free maiden were,
besides her parents, her brothers, especially
the eldest of them, who often showed them-
selves far more jealous and active in the matter
than the father while he was yet alive. This
caused the betrothal and marriage of a daugh-
ter only too often to be a pecuniary transaction
between these protectors and their future hus-
bands."
This we see illustrated especially in Genesis.
VINEYARD-GIRL IN KING'S HAREM. 1 59
Here in the Song, it seems, the brothers, daz-
zled by the honor, and perhaps pleased with
the worldly or financial advantages, have con-
sented to have their step-sister become an in-
mate of the royal household.
This allusion to herself and her domestic
history is only a parenthesis, for her thoughts
are still with her lover, and she thus addresses
the absent one. Is it in silent thought, or is
she overheard murmuring to herself .-'
" Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where
thou feedest thy flock, where thou makest it rest at
noon : for why should I be as a wanderer beside
the flocks of thy companions ? "
In this, the first of several descriptions of the
one beloved of the heroine of the poem, we
read the pet name used by her of the shepherd,
but never of Solomon. He is pictured here
and always as one in the pasture, or on the
mountains, never as a dweller in a city, a king,
a monarch, or one busy with the work of gov-
ernment or surrounded with luxury. She longs
to know where her lover is, under what shadow
of a great rock, or beneath what wide-spreading
tree, he has been driven by the " double light "
and intense heat of noon ; but, to go roaming
among the shepherds who were strangers to
her, and perhaps free in their remarks about
a love-sick girl, to find his particular flock,
l6o STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
would expose her modest feelings to a severe
trial.
In all this, the Shulamite talks in a real
country dialect, in Galilean speech that " be-
wrays " her Northern origin, as surely as Peter's
pronunciation revealed his personality to the
quick-eared servant girl in Herod's palace cen-
turies afterward.
The city -bred ladies, overhearing her talking
to herself, make answer to the rustic maiden.
Is not this a touch of sarcasm or jealousy, pos-
sibly of contempt for her lover's occupation ?
The chief lady of Solomon's household was the
daughter of Pharaoh ; and very possibly the
Egyptian, to whom " shepherds were an abom-
ination," set the fashion at Solomon's court,
and the chief lady shaped the views of the
harem. They answer :
" If you do not really know in secret, you prettiest
of women in the world, you had better go out
among the hoof-tracks left by the flock, and feed
your kids among the shepherds' tents."
In other words, these pampered beauties
deem her a foolish virgin indeed to keep think-
ing of a plain country lad, when King Solomon
offers her a place in his royal, albeit rather
miscellaneous, affections. In their reference
to kids instead of lambs in the shepherd's
flock, there ma}' be an allusion to the worship
VINEYARD-GIRL IN KINGS HAREM. l6l
of the Phcenician goddess Astarte, or Ash-
taroth, as the Hebrews called her. In the rites
of this moon-goddess a kid was the emblem of
love. The pure virgin of Shunem was a devout
servant of Jehovah, while many of the women
in Solomon's harem were idolaters to this
Phoenician Venus. For that very reason they
were as unable to understand or sympathize
with the strict principles of the chaste Shula-
mite, as is the heathen woman of to-day in
polygamy to enter into the mind of the Chris-
tian maiden. To one familiar with the litera-
ture, customs, speech, and ideas of the women
who live where idolatry prevails, and the rulers
and chief men of the country keep harems, the
amazing purity and modesty of maidens reared
in Christian homes is like a revelation from
Heaven. The witness of the stone-lore of
Tyre and Sidon shows that not only did Phoe-
nician women bear such names as " Devoted to
Baal," but that many of them were consecrated
to impurity by vows and religious rites in the
temples of Astarte.
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed in
spirit like this fair lily of the northern fields.
Left alone by the women, a greater trial now
awaits her.
ACT I. SCENE II.
THE LILY AMONG THORNS.
Chapter I. 8-II. 7.
A NEW character appears upon the scene
and speaks for the first time in verse ninth.
It is his Imperial Majesty, Solomon himself,
suzerain of the vassal nations, lord of all Israel,
commander of the armies, who " fills the places
with dead bodies," whose enemies bite the
dust in death at his word. Who can resist
him who has sent even princes to their grave
under the assassin's knife ? It is fearful even
to think of crossing his will.
The Hebrew emperor is a judge of beauty.
Having a host of fair faces daily before him,
he is not easily led captive by raven tresses, a
rosy cheek, or a sparkling eye. Despite her
own dispraise, the Shulamite must indeed have
graces all her own to attract this jaded man.
"How men propose" is a subject of peren-
nial interest to women, and all literature has
been searched to find pictures of the wooing
scene. The Bible opens to our view more
than one picture of ardent swain seekins^ the
THE LILY AMONG THORNS. 1 63
heart and hand of willing maiden in pure and
honorable love.
Solomon makes love in a business way, much
as a purchaser would contract for a perch of
building stone, or a cargo of provisions. Sen-
suality knows no eloquence, but purity and sin-
cerity make the silver tongue. Critical and
unimpassioned, yet complimentary and polite,
the royal voluptuary, using a term the mean-
ing of which hovers between " companion "
and "loved one," thus addresses the rustic
damsel :
" I have compared thee, my friend, to steeds
caparisoned for Pharaoh's chariot. Thy cheeks
are comely in their fringes of coins, thy neck in its
necklace of beads. We will make thee head-bands
of gold and a necklace of knobs of silver."
Think not the king a jockey because he
compares his lady friend to one of his mares,
and possibly draws the imagery of his prom-
ises from the head-frame and gay tassels of
his noble black steed. In our Western eyes it
is not in good taste to compare maiden, sweet-
heart, or wife to a horse. The Roman poets,
however, did it, and the Arabs do it yet, the
comparison being accepted as delightful flat-
tery. Remember, too, that horses, once asso-
ciated only with Egyptian slavery and long
forbidden in Israel, were at this time new and
164 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
wonderful things in the cities of Israel. It
may have been a poet of Solomon's time who
described in matchless apostrophe the war-
horse in the book of Job. Even now, the love
of the fleet animal sometimes turns a man's
thoughts away from his wife and family. It
is not certain but that some men love their
pet trotters and pacers more than their chil-
dren, and the excitement of the races more
than the simple joys of home.
To the Galilean maiden, adorned it may be
with rich braided hair within a simple head-
dress, bordered perhaps with rows of bronze
or silver coins, and her neck decorated with
uncostly jewelry made by Phoenician bronze-
smiths, the great king promises golden cir-
clets, row upon row of gold coin, and necklace
damascened with points of silver like the horse-
bridles of his cavalry. It is no princess or
earthly king's daughter to whom Solomon thus
condescends. It is one unused to rich gifts^
Is the rustic maiden won by the promises of
jewelry and finery, such as young women are
usually anxious to own .'' Such presents might
easily influence her favorably. Is she inclined
to yield "i
Not yet. The " ointment poured forth," as
the court ladies named the king, is not yet her
accepted perfume. The savor sweet to her soul
THE LILY AMONG THORNS. 1 65
is wafted from pastures, not from divans. She
intimates that while the king sat at his table, or
rested on his couch, that is, when he was ab-
sent, she was most happy. As it is, she thinks
of her beloved, who is to her as precious nard.
Maidens of to-day, as in all the ages since
love was born in Eden, call their absent lovers
sweet pet names, using the terms of endear-
ment borrowed from things most familiar and
also most precious. The Shulamite's names for
her shepherd-lover are, "my nard," my "bag
of myrrh," my " bunch of cypress flowers."
Hear her :
" Even while the king sat at his table, my spike-
nard yielded its sweet odor. A vial of mjTrh rest-
ing in my bosom is my beloved to me. As a cluster
of cypress-blossoms from the gardens of En-gedi is
my beloved to me."
Note here how differently the words inverse
thirteenth sound as we re-read them naturally.
In the proper rendering of the Hebrew, the
unrevised and offensive phrase " he shall lie all
night," etc., disappears, and with it the last
suggestion of anything inconsistent with pro-
priety. Grammar and parallelism show that
th§ reference of place is to the myrrh and not
to the lover. The young girl is simply com-
paring her betrothed, her spikenard, myrrh,
and cypress flower, to what is sentimentally
1 66 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
equal to our buttonhole, belt, or corsage bou-
quet, which she wears for ornament, instead of
the jewelry promised by Solomon. The maid-
ens of Israel, as we learn from the Hebrew
of Isaiah, called the pretty vials of perfume,
made of snow-white onyx or alabaster, which
they wore suspended round their necks be-
tween their heart and their garments, "soul-
dwellings," or " the houses of the soul," the
perfume inclosed being the soul of their fa-
vorite friend or lover. While virgin modesty
bows her head under the royal flatteries, the
sweet odor on her own bosom ascends grate-
fully to the sense of smell, reminding her of
him whom she always calls " the beloved," now
far away.
Thus, under a critical study of this lovely
Bible picture of true love, all suspicion of any-
thing that could shock propriety vanishes.
The purest-minded virgin may safely read the
Song of Songs, in which is no trace of immoral
thought. " Marked with Oriental abandon, yet
unlike all other pastorals, Latin, Greek, or
Eastern, it has not the vestige of a putrid
stain." No expurgations, omissions, or apology
are needed for this book. It stands forth amid
erotic literature as chaste as unsunned snow,
a miracle of purest thought and diction as
compared with the love poems of Asia.
THE LILY AMONG THORNS. 1 6/
The conversation continues, Solomon talk-
ing to this new addition to the list of "virgins
without number " in his train ; but though her
words seem directed to the king, her heart is
with her "beloved," and her thoughts are
upon the life amid nature which she so loves.
Not only is her speech in the Galilean rustic
dialect, while the king's is in the polished lan-
guage of Judea, but while her talk is of things
home-made and out-doors, his is of works of
art and of skilled workmen.
Solo77ion. Lo, thou art lovely, my dear. Lo,
thine eyes are as doves.
Shidamite. Lo, thou art lovely, my beloved, yea,
pleasant ; our arbor is green.
Solomoji. The roof-beams of our house are of
cedar, the wainscoting of cypress.
Shidamite. I am only a wild flower of the plain,
a lily of the valley.
Thus she refuses to be identified with the
hot-house blooms, delicate and frail, that thrive
in courts, love the warm breath of flattery, and
hang on princes' favors.
The place called Sharon, usually written as
a proper name, is throughout the Bible the
s/iaron, or the great plain or broad field which
contains the largest space of level land in Pal-
estine. Instead of the "rose," — our queen
of flowers, brought long after Solomon's time
1 68 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
from Persia, — a simple wild flower is what the
Shulamite calls herself. She is only a daisy
of the meadow, only the lily that modestly
hides in the glen. It was probably this idea
and her own words, very probably this very
passage, which Jesus had in mind, when in the
region of her home he said, " Consider the
lilies of the field." As he commends simple
purity rather than gaudy display, so here the
poet sets in antithesis the stainless girl and
the luxurious and sin-dyed king.
The quick and happy repartee now put by
the poet in the mouth of her admirer shows
the character as well as the beauty of the
heroine. She is of a different temper from the
other women who throng the royal harem, —
the worshipers of Astarte, the odalisques,
the dancing-girls, the heathen beauties, and
the frivolous playthings, — women in form, but
silly children in nature. Here is one pure,
strong, real, sincere woman, true even amid
unwonted allurements to vows made and faith
plighted.
" As a lily among thorns, so is my love
among the daughters," answers Solomon.
A holy character flourishing amid uncon-
genial circumstances, the seed of the kingdom
unchoked of the brambles, pure religion main-
tained amid persecution, has in all the ages of
THE LILY AMONG THORNS. 1 69
the Christian Church been a favorite symbol.
"The Church under the Cross " in the Nether-
lands, and of the Waldenses, early chose this
as their emblem. The thorns of oppression,
of flattery, of false religion, could no more con-
taminate or kill the pure faith of the churches
of Holland or Italy, than could uncongenial
influences wither this flower of Israel.
The maiden in return sings the praises of
her " beloved," comparing him to the sweet-
breathed apple-tree, which in the springtime is
all glorious with beauty, and in autumn all
golden with fruit. In the natural poetry of
the Hebrews, the apple-tree takes its name
from a word meaning to breathe, — the fra-
grant breath of the tree, the perfume of the
fruit being especially esteemed. It is triply
valuable for shade, blossom, and refreshment,
" As the apple-tree among the wild trees of the
wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Delight-
edly I sit under his shade, and his fruit is delicious
to my taste. O that he would bring me into the
vineyard, his very shadow over me being love."
In memory of past hours of joy, and in hope
of future meeting, the love-lorn girl cries out
for the fruits of the grape-vine and of the apple-
tree, which, in figurative language, stand for
the joys of the communion of innocent love,
I/O STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
the kiss and caress, enjoyed in vineyard and
orchard.
" O comfort me with (such) raisin-cakes. Re-
fresh me with (such) apples, for I am faint witli
love."
Thus, in heart-sickness of pining and loneli-
ness, the heroine gives way to her feelings in
desiring to be with her lover :
" Let his left hand be under my head, and his
right arm support me."
How true the poet here is to the actual facts
of the young girl's life. These being the
words of a maiden absolutely without guile,
they can bear but one meaning of innocent
longing for the companionship of one beloved.
Yet if heard or overheard by less guileless
ears, whether inmate of harem, or auditor of
the cantata, whether seen by spectator in
Palestine or reader of the English Bible, other
meanings more or less turbid might be dis-
cerned. To the pure all things are pure, and
if there be one thing pure under the blue sky
it is a young virgin ; but the Bible and this
poem are read by others besides the daugh-
ters reared in Hebrew and Christian homes.
Did the lip of proud princess curl, or the
eye of odalisque in Solomon's zenana shoot
out the darts of suspicion at the Shulamite ?
THE LILY AMONG THORNS. 171
Was it woman's unbelief of woman, the mock-
ing, incredulous sneer on lip or eye, that drew
out the stern adjuration of the Hebrew
maiden ? Or is it the paean of triumphant
fidelity which fills the exultant and defiant
strain that thrice echoes through this drama ?
Compared with the gentleness of her other
speeches, this oath seems like a peal of
thunder.
" I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by
the gazelles and by the hinds of the fields that ye
rouse not my love till it please."
This is no soothing ditty which the poet
makes issue from her mouth. The rustic
maid swears by the creatures most free and
least influenced by artificial life that her affec-
tions are not to be either incited or excited
except by her own inclination. " Till it
please," is the word ; for love must be born of
God, not roused by gifts or bribe. In the same
word with which Jehovah names his people
when purified and restored, — Hephzibah, my
delight is in her, — we find this same strong
word hep/isi, meaning delight, inclination ap-
plied to love. This fire of God is not to be
wantonly excited, but is to delight in its ob-
ject. This may not be good or palatable doc-
trine to those managers of the marriage
1/2 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
market who consider all poor, or rising but
impecunious, young men as "detrimentals."
Too many women and match-makers have
" the world set in their heart," and parents,
who have survived and forgotten all sentiment,
regard anything like real love between young
people not on the same social and financial
level as hurtful nonsense.
We can easily imagine the advice given to
the poor maiden of Shunem about choosing
between " a lion and a mouse," in the form of
Israel's king and one of Galilee's ten thousand
shepherds. It is quite certain that the natural
interpretation of the Song of Songs will never
be popular with those who have come to years
or condition of heart when sentiment is so
often dead, and who believe in marriages of
property and convenience rather than of true
affection. Yet the lesson of this part of God's
Word comes with equal force to the young man
who is seeking to win a maiden's heart. It is
best not to awaken love till it please. The
would-be husband risks an awful peril in rous-
ing a young girl to too hasty decision. How
many men wish to marry in a hurry ! Delay-
ing for years on account of business' or ambi-
tion's sake the choice of a partner and the
gentle art of winning a helpmeet, many a fool-
ish man makes himself all ready, after months
THE LILY AMONG THORNS. 1 73
it rnay be of self-preparation, and then expects
a maiden to give answer with promptness,
even though his proposal may have come at
her like a battering-ram. Is it not best not
to hurry a woman until she is sure of herself ?
Is it not a wrong to rob her of the season of
romance, the time for courtship? Does not
God in nature teach us the lesson of bud and
blossom before ripe fruit, of blade and ear
before the ripe corn in the ear ? Even to the
coquette, this adjuration may give food for
solemn thought. The awful record of unhappy
marriages and divorces would be marvelously
shortened, if these words were deeply pon-
dered by young and old.
ACT II. SCENE I.
THE DOVE IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCKS.
Chapter II. 8-17,
In Act II. the heroine's environment changes
from the surroundings of royalty to the vine-
clad cottage among her native hills. Here are
pictured gardens and fig-trees, hill-pastures
and mountains, and the characteristic vicinage
of a north Palestinian home. The rainy sea-
son of winter is over, and all nature wears the
festal garments of springtime. We listen now
to the narrative, by the Shulamite to the court
ladies, of a sweet experience of her life before
she was brought to the royal quarters. As
usual, her talk is in the Galilean dialect.
She hears a voice beloved and a footstep
familiar.
" Hark ! my beloved ! Ha ! here he comes, leap-
ing over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My love is like a gazelle or a fawn. There ! he
stands behind our garden wall, his eyes twinkle
through the window, his face blooms at the lattice."
As a vine of honeysuckle or morning glory
DOVE IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCKS. 1 75
winding its perfumed way over the trellis will
come in through the meshes to open bright
petals on the inner side, so the maid at home
sees her lover's face blooming through the
lattice, flushed with the joy of seeing her
whose face is ever on his heart. Hear his
poetic invitation, his serenade song, in genuine
lover's language, for as she tells this reminis-
cence of her life to the court ladies she con-
tinues :
" Called my beloved and sang to me :
" ' Up, my love, my fair one, and come forth ; for
see, the winter is gone, the rain is over, is past,
the flowers appear in the fields, the time for sing-
ing (while we prune the vines) has come, and the
voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land. The
fig-tree sends forth the aroma of its figs, and the
tender buds of the grape-vine yield fragrance. Up,
my love, my beauty, and come away.' "
So invites the young mountaineer, who is
here and always in the poem the " beloved,"
in words whose images are very different from
those that saluted the maiden's ear and imag-
ination when Solomon flattered her in the
palace. The royal suitor's compliments were
borrowed from horses and chariots, harness,
jewels, ceiling-beams, and dados, — all the ar-
tificial luxury of gorgeous pavilions or city
houses. The homespun lo^^er invites to out-
176 STUDIES AND C0MMEN7S.
door delights, to simple and innocent enjoy-
ment of nature. Not horses, but birds ; not
imported cosmetics and apothecary's perfum-
ery, but nature's fragrance in vine and blos-
som ; not the harp and zither, but the sweet
note of the turtle-dove, shall she have and
hear. Nothing can be in greater contrast
than the love-sonnets of the royal suitor and
the glowing strains of the plebeian lover, in
this exquisite cantata. The formal advances of
the one and the spontaneous grace of the other
are apparent.
How does the maiden answer her Galilean
shepherd lover .-'
Perhaps she is coy. She lingers.
Just here let us pause to analyze the feelings
in her bosom as she stands on the threshold
of her home, eager, yet self-restrained, while
the war of the roses make a battlefield of her
cheeks, as red and white struggle for victory.
Is it modesty, bashfulness, difBdence, or
shyness that puts feet and heart at odds, that
makes her waver between " go " and " stay " }
Let us analyze these four words. Modesty is
a full, first-class virtue, and arises from a low
estimate of ourselves, and often is but a candle
to show one's real merit. Bashfulness is an
agitation of the spirits in coming into the pres-
ence of others. Dififidence springs from too
DOVE IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCKS. I//
much distrust of self. Shyness comes from
excessive self-consciousness, and a painful im-
pression that every one is really looking at us.
It is really a kind of vanity.
So say the oracles of lexicography.
Now, modesty in deportment is becoming
to all, maid or married, child or adult, man or
woman ; but bashfulness usually results in
blunders ; diffidence makes a man a burden to
himself, especially in society ; while shyness
creates a reserve which is often mistaken for
haughtiness, so that persons least inclined
to severity are not infrequently taxed with
pride and an unsociable and even unfriendly
spirit.
Shall not we, like this fair Hebrew, ever
cultivate modesty ; leave bashfulness for nerv-
ous people and ill-bred children ; educate our-
selves out of diffidence ; and give over shyness
to vain and light-headed folks, and especially
to hermits and narrow individuals who think
all the world is gazing at them and is inter-
ested in their least concerns "i
Modesty is the jewel of the Shulamite
maiden. She waits at her lover's call. Her
coyness induces him to begin again his invita-
tion. He calls her by no pet name of city
bauble, of hot-house flower, or of India spice.
She is a dove, not of the ordinary tamed sort
1/8 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
in dove-cote or pigeon-tower, but one hiding
modestly away.
" O my dove, in the clefts of the rocks, in the
recesses of the cliffs, let me see thy form, let me
hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice and lovely is
thy figure."
Does she yield sweetly, and do the lovers
then saunter forth hand in hand for holiday
and delight .'' Or do the step-brothers here
interrupt and postpone the meeting, and send
her to her work with rough words .'' Have
they given her orders to catch the little foxes
and exterminate the pests of the vineyard .-'
Is this the explanation of her mother's sons'
being angry with her .'* If so, may we not sup-
pose that she turns their commands into a song,
and goes forth singing the words with glee .''
Possibly we have here, however, the song of
the rustic lover himself, and this supposition
has support in the idea that the word " spake "
{anaJi) of verse tenth means also to sing. It
is more than probable that, whatever view we
take, we have here a snatch of the popular
balladry, such as might often have been heard
on the hills of Issachar twenty-five centuries
ago.
" Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes, spoiling the vineyards.
For our vineyards are in bloom."
DUFE IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCKS. 1 79
So, the Israelitish lads and lassies lightened
their toil. It is springtime, and the long-
nosed cubs are coming out of their holes. At
this season they are especially apt to injure
the vineyards by undermining the walls, cut-
ting the roots of the vines, and gnawing the
stems and young shoots. The little foxes are
even more dangerous than the old ones. A
vine-dresser would gladly let the young brush-
tails have a few bunches of grapes when ripe,
but he objects seriously to having his roots
and sprouts nibbled to pieces. All foxes are
fond of the luscious clusters, as we well know,
and Reynard has furnished us with the well-
known proverb of " sour grapes," — evidently
known even in Solomon's time, — which is the
symbol of impotent jealousy, or unattainable
desire curdled even to envy. Big foxes allow
at least the grapes to grow, be they sweet or
sour, but little foxes spoil the growth of either.
For other beasts there may be some law and
mercy, but of the vineyard-destroyera^ be they
Hebrew j'//;/«/( I Sam. xiii. 17), fox, or jackal, the
law then as now is told us by Walter Scott :
" Who ever recked where, how or when
The prowling fox was trapped or slain ? "
Whether we are to understand the poet as
intimating that the severe and magisterial
step-brothers interrupted and s'^-parated the
l8o STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
lovers by their command to their younger sis-
ter to be about her work of guarding the vine-
yard against the foxes, or not, it makes little
difference in her feelings to her beloved except
to intensify them. Love makes second spring-
time in her heart. She assures the daughters
of Jerusalem of her unswerving affection to
the absent one.
" My beloved is mine and I am his, who feedeth
his flock among the lilies."
In their life in the home highlands, the one
toils in her vineyard, the other feeds his sheep
in the meadows ; but once the allotted work
done, then comes the cool of the day, and this
is the time for the lovers' meeting, from twi-
light until the hour of separation. The pros-
pect of this reunion cheers and lightens the
labors of both during the heat and burden un-
til the day cools, that is, until evening ap-
proaches, the sunset breeze blows, and the
moving shadows have lengthened and fled
along the ground until in dusk they disappear.
Then, in the poetry of the Hebrew idiom, "the
day breathes itself away."
" When the day cools, and the shadows flee away,
return, haste, O my beloved, and be thou like a
gazelle over the separating mountains."
The sentences of this pretty refrain, full
DOVE IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCKS. l8l
of the poetry of the sunset breeze, the last
breath of clay, the racing shadows, the leaping
hind, and the old mountains wrinkled with
gorge and ravine, vibrate true poetry. More
than once it recurs in the poem, and if this
cantata were ever sung in the open air we can
easily imagine the effect of this sweet song of
love's invitation.
It is noticeable how the Shulamite describes
the man of her choice : never as a king, or
courtier, or a dweller in cities, but always as a
fleet-footed mountaineer, or shepherd who pas-
tures his flock amid the flowery meadows, or
in the dales where the lilies bloom. The sen-
tence descriptive of his occupation is added
with emphasis. " My beloved to me and I to
him, — he who feedeth [his flock] among the
lilies," is the picture which, briefly and vividly,
she draws of her beloved, who is not Solomon.
ACT II. SCENE II.
IN DREAM-LAND.
Chapter III. 1-5.
The next scene in the cantata, beginning
chapter iii., takes us back to the city. It is a
dream, and here, as always in the Bible, the
description of the dream-scenery, dissolving
views, and persons is felicitously true to life.
We may not always dream of what we think
most about, but our sleep-closed eyes will see
only what is upon the landscape of our experi-
ence.
Men whose talk is of oxen will dream of
oxen, shepherds have visions of their flocks,
engineers of cars and railways, tennis players
of tennis, students of books and recitations ;
while the clergymen have their one typical
dream, with variations, of being in church with
something lacking or out of order, of facing an
audience without due preparation, of failing to
find hymn, text, or robe, or to do properly what
in actual life they do with propriety a hundred
times a year. The country girl in her sleep
IN DREAM-LAND. 1 83
will imagine herself lost in the streets of a
great city. Many things absurd and fantastic
will start before our sleeping consciousness,
but all the elements will come out of our ex-
perience— what we feel or know, think or read
about. We dream only about that which has
met our waking eye or thoughts, although we
cannot always trace the links of connection.
The combinations of the kaleidoscope of dreams
are strange, but the parts are familiar. The
images on the brain are rearranged into new
forms without judgment or the regulating fac-
ulty. Whereas the root-sense of our English
word " dream " is that of sound or music, and
the Greek idea that of noise or tumult, the He-
brew word photographs the thought of a man
tied or bound, his senses congealed or closed,
so that surprise or wonder cannot enter to take
part with the other faculties of the mind.
Chapter iii. begins a dream which the Shu-
lamite thus narrates :
'* Lying upon my bed in the darkness of night, I
was looking for him whom my soul loveth : I
sought him, but I found him not. I said to myself:
" ' I shall arise now, and go about the city in the
streets and squares. I shall seek him whom my
soul loveth.'
" I sought hiin but I found him not.
" Then the night watchmen who patrol the city
1 84 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
met me. I asked them, ' Him whom my soul lov-
eth, have you seen him ? ' but I had hardly more
than passed by them when I found him whom my
soul loveth. I grasped him and would not let him
go until I had brought him into my mother's house,
yes, even into my mother's room in presence of the
author of my being."
Note here one of the characteristics of a
dream. The dreamer's home, remember, is in
northern Palestine, at Shunem in Galilee.
Jerusalem, with its avenues and plazas, about
which the court ladies have told her, and about
which her fancy has been busy, lies in the far
South. She dreams that she is seeking her
lover, and imagines herself doing an impossible
thing — walking about " the city," Jerusalem,
at night, when the streets are full of revelers,
requiring police to patrol the thoroughfares to
look out for fire, thieves, drunkards, and the
disorderly characters so numerously mentioned
in the book of Proverbs.
Innocently she supposes every one is ac-
quainted with her lover and knows him, though
he most probably has never been heard of be-
yond his native pastures.
How true is this to human nature, to peo-
ple absorbed in one idea, especially to simple
folk without much knowledge of the world.
Many young folks of the present day are apt
IN DREAM-LAND. 1 85
to suppose the whole world is moved at the re-
port of their engagement, or marriage, or busi-
ness concerns. The centre of the universe, to
most people, is the pronoun I. The little child
with a new pair of shoes, who walks into
church thinking that every man, woman, and
child from pulpit to front door is gazing on
that particular purchase, is a type of the self-
conscious and self-important lad or lassie
wrapped up in one idea.
The Shulamite evidently believed her lover
was a public man of vast importance. She
knew him well, therefore every one else surely
must, for she asks the watchmen, without men-
tioning name, date, or place, " Have you seen
him, my lover, the one I love .-' "
But the watchmen most probably gave her
a policeman's stare instead of a drawing-room
answer.
Then suddenly she sees him whom she loves
and grasps him by the hand, leading him — by
one of those curious possibilities of dreams, by
which space and distance are annihilated —
out of the thoroughfare of the capital to her
mother's house, or from Jerusalem to Shunem
— a hundred miles in a second
This act of taking her lover into her mother's
presence to show to her parent her conquest,
and to introduce him to her family, shows the
1 86 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
childlike, artless, and dutiful disposition of the
girl. It is a proof of the absolute guilelessness
of maidenhood.
In this respect, even in her dream, the Shu-
lamite is an example to modern youths and
maidens. It would certainly save many broken
hearts and ruined lives if daughters now would
make confidants of their mothers, and in pres-
ence of those who love them best enjoy the
innocent pleasures that spring from the asso-
ciation with young men. How many foolish
people come to the parson's to get married,
and, after the ceremony is over, plead that it
be kept quiet, — "Don't advertise it, for the
world ! " Better the innocence of the Shula-
mite than the smart secrecy of the clandestine
marriage.
Finally, whether waking or sleeping, whether
at rustic labor at home, or enjoying the luxury
of king's palaces, whether in the hamlet of
Shunem, in the royal tent on its way to the
capital, or in the city of Jerusalem, but espe-
cially exultant in the presence, real, remem-
bered, or expected, of her true and accepted
lover, the heroine of the poem concludes this,
as she does every experience, with the solemn
adjuration which thrice recurs. It is in fresh
memory of her mother's home with her lover
beside her that she now cries out :
IN DREAM-LAND. 187
" I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by
the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir
not up nor excite love till it please."
Note here that some of the expressions in
Canticles, as we have rendered them, differ in
sense from those in the Enghsh version of
161 1 ; and, as we give them, they are less ob-
jectionable to the moral sense of the Christian,
than in the old unrevised version of the Eng-
lish Bible. Now it is true that different trans-
lators render certain passages differently, and
the reason is plain. The expression in English
will be according to the theory of the poem
and the thought of the translator or reader.
Bring to Canticles a frivolous or prurient mind,
and one can find much that gratifies a depraved
taste. Read it with a chaste, nay even with a
fairly unbiased mind, and there is nothing im-
pure or improperly suggestive.
King James's translators acted on the theory
that Solomon wrote the poem and refers to
the Shulamite as his bride ; hence the sen-
tences not in harmony with good taste, though
they may have suited the taste of the age in
the England of three centuries ago. The
translators seem to have been more familiar
with the Vulgate and Septuagint than with
the original text, besides needlessly marring
many tender Hebrew passages, especially in
1 88 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
Isaiah, with a truly Saxon coarseness. Renan,
who sees in Christ only a Galilean peasant, in
Ecclesiastes a dyspeptic cynic, and in all the
Old Testament nothing divine, will of course
discover in Le Cantiqiie only the coarse flirta-
tions of a dancing-girl and dialogues fitted for
beer saloons. But honest-minded scholars, and
especially those who reject the allegorical the-
ory, find what we believe, that there is nothing
objectionable or offensive to refined taste in
the entire language of the cantata, except pos-
sibly a passage in chapter vii. which the poet
rightly puts into the mouth of the voluptuary
Solomon. According to the natural theory of
the poem, there is no need for improper lan-
guage or words of double meaning. In sen-
tences fitting, glowing, passionate, poetic yet
pure, modest yet strong ; in noble suggestion
of naive simplicity, with hearty delight in na-
ture, and with artless filial affection, the Gali-
lean maiden speaks, her chastity of thought
ever prevailing over the ardor of her images.
We pity those whose eyes cannot enjoy the
study of an undraped statue or a picture in
which Art touches chastely her noblest sub-
jects ; and if we pity those whose culture is so
lacking, in whom is absent the sense of appre-
ciation of the divine masterpieces of beauty in
the human body, how much more should we
IN DREAM-LAND. 1 89
pity those who cannot enjoy with holy pleas-
ure the study of the Song of Songs.
The inspired poet does not here sing of the
spiritual love of Christ and the Church, for the
simple reason that in his view the pure love of
man and woman in itself is divine, even kin-
dled by Jehovah himself.
ACT III. SCENE I.
THE ROYAL PROCESSION.
Chapter III. 6-11.
Into the Jerusalem of Jehovah's temple, pal-
aces of marble ornamented with ivory, grand
buildings in new and strange designs of archi-
tecture which compel contrast with the wooden
dwellings of David's time, the royal procession
now enters amid the gleaming of steel and the
waving of banners. The tents of the king's
household, which had been pitched in the re-
gion of the Shulamite's home, have been folded
up, and the journey to the capital taken down
the Jordan valley to the low lands of Jericho,
whence began the ascent through " the wilder-
ness," that is, the country remote from towns
or cities.
On approaching the city of the great king,
clouds of incense envelop the cortege, from
fragrant gums and spices burned according to
Oriental customs, still prevalent, during the
movements of royalty or dignitaries of highest
rank. The perfumes of Arabia and India are
THE ROYAL PROCESSION. I91
wafted on the breeze, and as the glitter of the
king's car of state and of the flashing blades
of the cavalry escort is caught sight of from
the battlements of Jerusalem, we hear the
cry of the crowds of spectators lining the
walls and eminences. Each of the various
speakers points out what especially rivets his
attention.
First citizen, or chorus of spectators : " Who is this
coming up out of the wilderness as in pillars of
smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with
all the powders imported by the merchants ? "
Second citizen : " Look, it is the palanquin of Sol-
omon. Threescore mighty men are round about
it of the veterans of Israel."
The admiration of the people for the Gib-
borim, or veterans, many of them, it may be,
scarred in numerous battles, is very great, al-
beit most of theni were foreigners. They
formed the life-guard of the king, and carried
out his orders, however terrible or despotic.
Such a military convoy was needed, for even
Solomon, who had sent so many others to
death, could not travel through his own domin-
ions, in which were many tribes and national-
ities, with entire safety. Besides, with all his
public works, extravagant architecture, and
costly navy, dazzling luxuriance in the city
and lavish expenditure on pleasure-seats, he
192 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
never gave the country either a good police
system, or first-class administration of public
roads. The robber by day on the road to
Jericho still waylaid, and the nocturnal ma-
rauder still prowled, so that the keen blades of
the Gibborim guards were very apt to be use-
ful as well as ornamental. Of the valor and
ability of this superb corps, there was no pop-
ular doubt.
Third citizen : " They all handle the sword and
are expert in war. Every man hath his sword
upon his thigh because of fear in the night."
With the introduction of horses and chariots
into Israel, not only the war vehicles and facil-
ities for ordinary transportation were greatly
improved upon, as compared with the old days
of the mule and litter, but in traveling equi-
page also wonders of comfort and luxury were
wrought. The viittah here spoken of was a
palanquin or reclining bed, or more properly a
portable room or chamber, borne on the backs
of draught animals, and as luxuriant in its way
as the palace or boudoir car of to-day. In his
own " private car," Solomon was accustomed
to travel from Beersheba, where the limits of
fertile land met the southern desert, to Dan,
where the mountains of Lebanon made the
northern frontier. In cars or palanquins sim-
ilarly transported, but probably far less costly
THE ROYAL PROCESSION. 1 93
in construction and gorgeous in decoration, the
veiled ladies of the harem traveled. In one of
these wheelless carriages of the royal train we
may imagine the Shulamite traveling far from
her home to the great city, possibly even with
the honors of a queen.
All eyes, however, are directed to the royal
palanquin, ordinarily set apart for the king's
use only, yet to-day holding a new occupant.
The fame of the beautiful Shulamite, the lat-
est object of the favor of Solomon, has pre-
ceded both to the capital city; and now,
though the cedar and fragrant woods, the gold
and silver ornaments, the railings of precious
metal and cushions of Tyrian purple, the em-
broidered rugs and inlaid floor, are admired,
yet the target of all eyes is the lily of the
northern valleys.
Fourth citizen: "King Solomon had made for
himself a traveling-room of the wood of Lebanon.
The pillars of it are of silver, the back-rest of gold,
the seat of purple, the interior beautified by the
one called ' love ' above the daughters of Jerusa-
lem."
The voice of a fifth spectator, or of a chorus,
bids the women of the old city, Zion, to come
out of their houses and look forth from the ter-
races, roofs, and gardens, as the train sweeps
through the city gates and up into the avenues
194 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
of the new city built upon Moriah and the
hills.
" Come forth, O j'e daughters of Zion, and be-
hold King Solomon with the crown with which his
mother crowned him in the day of his espousals,
and in the day of his gladness of heart,"
In Hebrew idea the city was the mother,
and the inhabitants the sons and daughters.
The " daughters of Zion," who here appear in
public, are the honorable women living in the
old city of David, the city proper of homes and
dwellings, and not in the new and garish part
of the capital where the "daughters of Jeru-
salem," or inmates of the harem, dwelt. Be-
tween the two hills of Zion and Moriah there
was a valley or ravine, called later the Tyro-
poeon, one hundred feet deep, which Solomon
had crossed by a massive viaduct built on piers
and arches. The bridge, from the solid ma-
sonry on the southwest angle of the temple to
the first of the series of piers built over the
valley, was nearly fifty feet long, a fragment of
its northern end being yet seen in " Robinson's
arch." The daughters, or women of Zion, are
invited to take a look at their sovereign, who
to-day wears his kingly robes, and on his head,
if not the emblem of kingly power, the chaplet
of the expectant bridegroom. Is it possible
that he offers to make the Shulamite one of
THE ROYAL PROCESSION: 1 95
his wives of first grade ? That the country-
maid is not only to join the harem, but to take
high rank in it, as a princess ?
So ends the first strophe of the third canto.
The reference to Solomon's day of nuptials
and coronation recalls his marriage with the
Egyptian princess ; and, as is yet the custom
in the East, the chaplet or floral diadem was
placed on his head by the queen mother, the
beautiful Bath-sheba.
How times must have changed since the
days of Moses ! Then, Israel was a slave na-
tion, and an Egyptian looked down on a He-
brew as one of a degraded race, as a chattel,
but not a person. Now, Pharaoh makes an al-
liance with Solomon at the very beginning of
his reign, — with the king of these Hebrews
whom his ancestors held as slaves. He even
assists the armies of Israel in putting down
the Canaanitish rebels, and gives to David's
son his daughter in marriage. To furnish her
with a dowry, the Egyptian father sent a naval
expedition of war-galleys across the Mediter-
ranean, and, landing at Joppa, reduced and set
on fire the town of Gezer, treated the Canaan-
itish inhabitants with the severity of a con-
queror's rights, and then bestowed the reve-
nues of the territory upon his daughter for her
" pin money," or, according to ancient Ian-
196 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
guage, "girdle money." It was possibly in
honor of Solomon and his bride that the 45th
psalm, which is a bridal hymn, an epithala-
mium, was written, and it is of her, the daugh-
ter, probably, of that Shishak whose portraits
yet look at us with their granite eyes in the
Egyptian monuments, that it is said :
" The king's daughter is all glorious within : her
clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought
unto the king in raiment of needlework : the vir-
gins her companions that follow her shall be
brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing
shall they be brought : they shall enter into the
king's palace."
This was in the days of Solomon's innocence
and youth. And if the pretty princess out
of sunny rainless Egypt with its overflowing
plenty should, when leaving father and mother
to live in a foreign land, sometimes feel home-
sick in the comparatively damp climate of
cloudy and rainy Judea, notwithstanding that
she dwelt in an ivory palace, that her lover
was royal, and that her husband was a king,
what then t
Hear what is said :
" Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline
thine ear \ forget also thine own people, and thy
father's house. So shall the king greatly desire thy
beauty ; for he is thy Lord, worship thou him. . . .
THE ROYAL PROCESSION. 197
Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,
whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all gen-
erations : therefore shall the people praise thee for-
ever and ever."
This happy event, remember, was at the
opening of Solomon's reign, before even the
temple had been built, before Jerusalem had
become the superbly adorned city full of the
metropolitan splendor of later days ; so that the
lovely princess at first lived for some years in
the old part of David's city, on Zion hill, until
her palace was built.
Now, let us ask, How did Solomon the bride-
groom in his later years act out the spirit of
husbandly loyalty .-^ Alas, we know too well
what the years brought ; for Solomon's life de-
generated from spirituality to worldliness and
lust. He violated the express commands of
God, and multiplied wives, dancing-girls, and
concubines until he became a sultan with a
harem. True, there have been harems larger
than those which the Hebrew emperor reared
and filled, but this is slight palliation of his
iniquity. Well said a certain writer, " Europe
could not have had a Solomon," for Israel's
king was an Asiatic of Asiatics.
Here, in the Canticle, we find him, in addi-
tion to his heathen wives, endeavoring to win
198 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
over to his harem the Hebrew maiden, the
Shulamite, who has thus far resisted royal bland-
ishments, and remains faithful to her shepherd
affianced. Having failed to gain her by or-
dinary addresses, or possibly taking it for
granted that his spoken wish was enough,
Solomon puts on his royal robes and the
crown of a prospective bridegroom, and in all
the pomp of a public procession enters city
and palace with the idea that the ** fairest
woman in the kingdom " is already his own.
Far away from home in a gilded prison, the
palace in Jerusalem, the maiden of Shunem
still remembers her beloved.
ACT III. SCENE II.
LOVE-MAKING IN THE PALACE.
Chapter IV. 1-5, 7.
The difficulty of interpretation of the poem
is illustrated to the student of the various com-
mentators on the Hel^revv text who disagree
as to the exact situation here. Ginsburg thinks
" the shepherd, who had followed afar off the
royal train in which his beloved was conveyed
to the capital, obtains an interview with her,
and is now addressing her." Renan, Delitzsch,
and many others consider that it is Solomon
who is speaking these words of praise. To
our mind the idea of the poet seems to be to
represent the lover as absent in body until the
final scene, but ever present in spirit to the
imagination of the Shulamite. The apparent
interviews are those of dream, trance, nar-
ration, or reminiscence. The real trial of the
maiden's pure love consists, as it seems to
us, in the actual absence of her beloved even
when her temptations are greatest in the pres-
ence of a king who wills to woo, but who may
command.
200 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
Having braided her long black hair, made
her toilet, and arrayed herself in the apparel
befitting an inmate of the palace, we may im-
agine her looking more like a princess than
before. How the toilette of the Hebrew lady
impressed Isaiah may be read in that remarka-
ble passage in his third chapter, which contains
an inventory of a lady's costume. Viewing
herself in the mirror, we can imagine the fair
young girl murmuring to herself, " I know
what my beloved would say to me, could he
see me now. Would he not repeat what he
has told me before ? "
We can imagine the " beloved " speaking
soft words of love, and praising her in terms
of Oriental metaphors too warm for our cold
Western taste ; but the speaker who now ad-
dresses the Shulamite is a man of the world,
who is familiar with refinements and the artifi-
cial adornments of nature. He takes a poetic
and critical view of the landscape, and the
features he most dwells upon are not those of
untamed nature, but of a cultivated country.
There is no white heat of passion here, only
propriety and faultless rhetoric. Hear this
connoisseur of beauty in the human figure and
in civilization pour out his praises :
" Behold thou art lovely, my dear. Thine eyes are
as doves between thy locks. Thy hair is like a
LOVE-MAKING IN THE PALACE. 20I
flock of goats springing down mount Gilead. Thy
teeth are like sheep coming up white from the
washing, all bearing twins and not one of them
sterile. Thy lips are like a crimson thread, thy
mouth is lovely, and like cut pomegranates are the
temples between thy locks. Thy neck is like the
tower of David built for trophies, whereon are
hung a thousand bucklers, all the shields of mighty
men. Thy two breasts are like two fawns, that are
twins of a gazelle."
Does the king's speech end here } Or, after
this sevenfold description of her charms, does
he add the words which may have slipped out
of their place under the pen of a copyist, and
which are found just below in verse seventh, —
" Thou art all fair my love, and there is no
spot in thee " .-• This is sometimes the Hebrew
method of beginning and ending a poem, to
have the first and last line alike, or nearly so
in form.
Snow-white sheep, ebony-black goats, pome-
granates cut for the table, and silken or byssus
thread dyed red, the memorial tower hung with
war-trophies, are the terms of comparison with
which the polished royal suitor praises teeth,
hair, complexion, neck, and charms of the
maiden who has fascinated him. His diction
is as different from the shepherd's as that of
the Norman conquerors, from whom came our
202 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
words beef, veal, mutton, and pork, was from
that of the Saxons, who have given us the
names of ox, calf, sheep, and hog. The Nor-
man saw on the table the dressed meat selected
from the animal tended in the fields by his serf
or swineherd. Solomon sees the landscape
from a pavilion or out of a palace window.
Is the Shulamite won by his praises ?
Brought into the lion's den, does she yield }
The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion ;
to provoke it may mean death. Yet will not
Jehovah deliver her from his power }
Her love, strong as death, braves even the
occupant of the lion-throne. Unyielding as
Sheol, she remains loyal to her betrothed. We
have heard her cry before, " My beloved is
mine, and I am his." In like manner, and
with the same intent, she tells Solomon her
unmistakable preference, as heart and thought
fly northward.
" Until the day cool, and the shadows flee away,
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the
hill of frankincense."
In thought she transports herself to her
mountain home, where all around, or in sight
of her cottage, rise the verdant and fragrant
mountains rich in odorous forests — vastly
different in this respect from the less richly
LOVE-MAKING IN THE PALACE. 203
timbered and often bare hills surrounding Jeru-
salem. Into this region, and over mountains
within the horizon of the Shulamite and of
the northern poet, that is, over Lebanon and
through the more distant Damascus, which is
mentioned in the Canticle, Pompey the Great
marched centuries afterward on his way to
subdue the Jewish nation. Florus, the his-
torian, tells us he passed " on that way through
perfumed groves, through woods of frankin-
cense and balsam."
As appreciative as an Indian of the sweet
grass which he plucks to weave into his gayly
dyed baskets, or as a Thoreau of the witchery
of the woody odors, so these unspoiled chil-
dren of Israel appreciated more than the mer-
chant's powders and the apothecaries' mix-
tures the natural fragrance of nature. They
long to walk together in the forest aisles, to
enjoy the sweet breath of the balsam-woods
when the summer sun distills a charm for the
senses, which only Lebanon yields. If even a
whiff from the pillow which imprisons the for-
est odors is grateful to the jaded dweller within
walls, how must the homesick girl have longed
for freedom and joy again ! This, then, is her
answer out of the lion's den — from Judah and
Jerusalem, from Solomon and the palace, she
longs to fly to her true love's home and be
with him to whom is her desire.
204 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
A word here as to the artistic form of the
charming little poem which the author puts
into Solomon's mouth, and also upon the whole
drama as a work of art in letters. Launched
twenty or even twenty-five centuries ago, and
once fresh, trim, beautiful, and perfect in all
its detail as a new ship making first voyage,
how looks this poetic craft now ? Once com-
plete from the master's hand, can it have
sailed the seas of time without losing spar,
sail, or aught of use or beauty ? Or, like ves-
sels home from long cruises, are marks of
strain and stress visible ? If it be almost a
miracle to write a manuscript or print a book
with absolute correctness, despite manifold
methods of scrutiny and platoons of vigilant
proof-readers, can we suppose a poem, which
is possibly two and a half millenniums old, to
reach us unscathed ?
These questions arise when we study the
form of the whole poem, and then compare its
parts one with the other. Hebrew poetry has
not rhyme or metre like the Greek, nor is it
blank verse, nor is it in unrhymed stanza ;
nevertheless it has a metrical form, a rhythm,
and a music all its own, in addition to its strik-
ing feature of parallelism. Some scholars
whose ears are attuned to the harmonies, and
whose eyes see the beautiful interior anatomy.
LOVE-MAKING IN THE PALACE. 205
as well as the exquisite outward form of the
Canticle, say that the lines of the poetry are
dislocated between verses 5 and 8. Through
the mistake of a scribe, a line has been lost, and
two others have changed places. The restora-
tion which they suggest brings both the metri-
cal and artistic forms into closer correspon-
dence with the other members of the poem,
thus making unity. However interpreters may
disagree, there is hardly standing room to one
who doubts the consummate beauty of the
Canticle as a work of art.
Making the proposed alteration, we have the
end of Solomon's address quite similar to the
beginning, while the reply of the Shulamite
(remembering that the words " his flock " are
supplied in each case) is likewise nearly the
same as in chapter ii. 16, 17 ; and vi. 3.
" My beloved is mine and I am his, he feeds [his
flock] among the lilies.
" Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee
away," etc.
Unfortunately, in the discussion of the ques-
tion of literary form, the element of doctrinal
interpretation enters in to confuse the inquiry
as to fact and truth. The allegorists violently
oppose the emendation which the upholders
of the natural theory propose. It may be
sai^l, as helping the English reader, that in the
206 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
poem it is only the shepherd who " feeds [his
flock] among the lilies " (chap. i. 7 ; ii. 16 ; vi.
3); and that the Hebrew word for "feed"
does not signify to eat or to partake of food,
but means to lead or conduct [to pasture], and
is almost exclusively used of shepherds with
domesticated animals. The roe or gazelle is
nowhere mentioned in the Scriptures as feed-
ing, but as being in motion, as hunted, or as
furnishing game food. In Proverbs, chapter v.
19, where we have probably a reference to the
passage before us (Song of Songs, iv. 5), the
thought and sensuous imagery are nearly sim-
ilar, but there is nothing said as to "feeding"
or "lilies." These special words in the Canti-
cle are applied to the shepherd only.
Concerning the pretty poem of Solomon in
praise of the Shulamite, which begins and ends
with "Thou art fair, my love," does it not sug-
gest, as to this point of literary likeness, both
the " Bow-song," or lament of David over Saul
and Jonathan (2 Samuel i. 19-27), and the
eighth psalm .? Of the author of this latter
praise-song of Israel, the writer of the Epistle
to the Hebrews says, " one in a certain place ; "
while the title-maker and editor of the first
great Hebrew hymn-book says, " A Psalm of
David."
The true text of the Bible does not contra-
LOVE-MAKING IN THE PALACE. 20/
diet itself. Did the poet of the Canticle write
both the " Psalm of the Astronomer " and the
passage in Canticles we have just studied ? It
seems reasonably certain, at least, that the liter-
ary model of the three poems was the same.
Such questions may never receive satisfying
answers. For spiritual nourishment, for edifi-
cation, we do not need certainty; but this is
sure, — we readers of the Bible have as much
right, God -given and Christ-commanded, to
search the Scriptures to-day and form our opin-
ions, as had the scribes, Pharisees, priests, edi-
tors, title-makers, custodians, and traditionists
of the past. As our fathers of Germany and
England and in the centuries past did, it is
ours to reverently inquire, study, and make up
our minds concerning things left unexplained
in the Scriptures. " If any man lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and
upbraideth not."
ACT III. SCENE III.
THE GARDEN OF SPICES.
Chapter IV. 8-V. i.
Solomon has disappeared from the scene,
but the Shulamite is wrought to a frenzy of
excitement in view of her situation, and the
possibility of a forced marriage. In vision,
the wish being parent to the thought, she sees
her lover coming to defy the lion and leopards
of authority, and escaping with her to the
mountain fastnesses of the North. In the lan-
guage which we now read, the beating of a
true lover's heart is felt, and the passionate ap-
peal sheds a glow over this whole strophe of
the poem. The language is at white heat.
He calls her not " my dear," "my friend," but
*' my bride," and she delights to hear him.
" Escape with me ! from Lebanon, my bride, with
me from Lebanon thou shalt go ; thou shalt go
from the top of Amana, from the summit of Senir,
from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of
the leopards. Thou hast given me courage, my
sister, my bride, thou hast ravished my heart with
one look of thine eyes, with one jewel of thy neck-
lace.''
THE GARDEN OF SPICES. 2O9
Even one eye-glance of his beloved has em-
boldened him, exciting him even to rebellion,
to lift his hand against king and law to secure
the object of his love. He is ready at every
hazard to elope with her, even though he must
know the fate of all who cross the will of Is-
rael's despot. The keen sword of the secret
assassin would soon find out the man whom
" the lion " orders to death, but her lover, she
knows, will dare all things if she but say the
word.
Did the shepherd in actual clandestine inter-
view read in her flashing eyes the suggestion
of elopement, or was it his own impulse ; or is
the whole scene an ideal one.-' To our mind,
it is in accordance with the art of the Hebrew
literature of wisdom to represent here an ideal
scene.
It is the aim of the poet, as we read between
the lines, to portray this pure Hebrew girl as
finally victorious, but as conquering only by
gentleness and obedience to law. She is one
of the King's daughters, the handmaid of Je-
hovah. She obeys God and conscience first
and always, hoping thereby to save herself
from the embraces of a polygamist king, and
to keep, in obedience to law, her own beloved.
Hers was the might of gentleness which makes
great
2IO STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
The changes in the literary form of the
strophes of the poem reflect the conflicting
emotions, the changing moods, of the maiden's
excited mind. She feels intensely, and in her
day-dream of tumultuous feeling her lover is
as if really present to her, breathing in her ears
the proposal to escape from the harem to her
free life of the hills. As in the other ideal
scene in chapter ii., this waking^ vision of her
active imagination will be succeeded by a night-
dream, wherein her thoughts again wander
afar off, always to find her beloved, but in this
case to lose him again.
That is Hebrew poetry — utterly vague and
misty as to chronological relation, or the pro-
cesses of logic, but as quickly as a turning
kaleidoscope expressing every impulse, every
impression and emotion, or mixture of them.
The Western mind, that looks for the se-
quences of orderly reasoning, is constantly put
out at noticing the gaps and want of connec-
tion in the poetical books of the Bible. To
expect close reasoning, or the perfect dramatic
movement of a Greek tragedy, is to insure
disappointment. The utterances of psalmist,
poet, and prophet remind us of lovers' con-
versations, which lack logic, are full of tan-
gents, and contain spaces of silence even
when the speakers feel most intensely. One
THE GARDE.V OF SPICES. 211
emotion gives place rapidly to another, in a
manner that makes a cold-blooded translator
or commentator despair. If one adopts the
allegorical method of interpretation, by which
language can be made to mean anything and
everything, there is no diiificulty ; but to keep
track of the movement of sentiment and play
of feeling taxes one's powers of attention se-
verely.
In the mind of the maiden there is a strug-
gle. Shall she yield to the proposition ?
No, she will not encourage the shepherd in
wild schemes of lawlessness. She gently dis-
suades him with a kiss, and with love's weap-
onry she is successful. The kiss and caress
are invincible. The beloved becomes calm,
and his words change in tone and subject.
With a lover's guile, he makes further ad-
vances in the triumphs of the master passion.
" How fair is thy caress, my sister, my bride :
How much better thy love than wine, and the fra-
grance of thy perfume than all spices. Thy lips drop
honey, my bride ; honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the fragrance of thy garments is like
the fragrance of Lebanon."
So flow the lover's words, in a torrent of
rapturous exaggerations. As the bouquet of
wine and the perfume of the "soul-house," so
the luscious lips and the loveliness of her per-
212 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
son enthrall him. Yet now he adds a more
delicate compliment to her modesty, her in-
stinctive refinement, her chaste life, her purity
amid court temptation. He praises her inward
ornaments, her soul's charms. He antedates
and precedes Solomon in looking from sensu-
ous charms to the interior graces of the spirit.
With consummate art, the poet puts the shep-
herd in advance of the king in this.
" A garden locked, thou art, my sister, my bride ;
a garden inclosed, a fountain sealed. What sprouts
for thee therein makes a paradise of pomegranates
with most excellent fruit, henna and spices, nard
and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees
of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief
spices. Yea, a garden fountain, a well of living
waters, a flowing stream from Lebanon, art thou."
In this rhetorical coloring and allusions to
the scenery of his home, the speeches of the
young man beloved of the Shulamite are quite
different from those of the royal suitor. In
free unstudied diction, which lacks the perfect
rhetorical finish of the king's addresses, and
drawing his metaphors from wild nature within
the view of the life of the toiler, his words burn
with passion. With many a glowing word of
compliment and flow of pretty diminutives,
which especially puzzle the commentators who
seek in the text material for dogmatictheology,
THE GARDEN OF SPICES. 2 1 3
yet with thought as pure as the waters of
Naaman's favorite stream of Amana, to which
he compares his love, the young mountaineer
utters his heart to her who owns it.
Flattery, with a selfish object in view, is one
thing. Ardent love, breathing out sincere
praise, is another. Flattery of the wise breeds
in them disgust, but the foolish and vain are
led captive to the designs of the flatterer.
True praise from the honest should encourage
us, but the honeyed words of the wicked
should humble us. When the wise and loving
and true say kindly things of us, holding us
high in their estimation, then ought this to
stimulate us to fulfill their ideal. Woman's
ears were made to hear the music of love.
Alas, for her who never once hears the tale !
In truest womanly spirit the Shulamite
maiden, who gave no response of favor to the
polygamous king's advances, now encourages
her betrothed ; while she prays that she may
fill his ideal of her, and be in sober reality
what he fondly believes she is. We must re-
member that in Palestine the east wind is with-
ering, and the west brings storm, while the
north is cooling and refreshing, and the south
heals and ripens. The north wind, powerful
and strong, awakes or arises ; the south wind
comes as the soft breathing zephyr. She in-
214 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
vokes the winds of heaven to make her even
more lovely.
" Arise, O north wind, and come, thou south
wind, blow upon my garden, that its spice-odors
may be wafted out."
With sweet responsiveness, in guileless love
and childlike confidence, the maiden yields
thus her heart and her all to her accepted
lover. Her desire is that in all womanly
graces and character she may be all he hopes
of her. This is her " yes," her full surrender :
" Let my beloved come into his garden and eat
its precious fruits."
Her sweet yielding fills him with a lover's
bliss, and the second and last scene in the
third canto of the poem ends with the first
verse of chapter v. The accepted and happy
shepherd-lover responds to her encouragement,
saying to his beloved, this " faithful found
among the faithless," this peasant girl who re-
sists a king in order to be true to her plighted
troth :
" I am coming into my garden, my sister, my
bride. I am gathering my myrrh with my balsam.
I am eating my honeycomb with my honey. I am
drinking my wine with my milk."
In true Oriental rhetoric, under the poetic
THE GARDEN OF SPICES. 2 I 5
figures of delicious fruits, sweets, spices, and
drinks, the lover alike signifies his joy, his
triumph, his rapture, and his embodied ideal.
To the affianced couple, happy in each other's
affection, the poet adds approving words. Shall
we put them in the mouths of the court ladies,
who overhear the Shulamite talking to herself?
Or, do we recognize here, in the refrain of a
chorus, the poet's own heart ?
" Eat, O friends, drink, O beloved, yea, drink
abundantly [of love]."
Thus, if our interpretation of this last line
be correct, the seal of inspiration and divine
approval is set again on pure love between one
man and one woman. Between two great
events — the nuptials in Eden, wherein God
consummated the first marriage, and the
wedding of Cana in Galilee, at which Jesus
sat with approving smile — this divine poem
stands midway, to testify to the heavenly or-
igin of love and the holiness of marriage. For
love is as strong as death, its passion as in-
flexible as Sheol, its coals are as coals at white
heat, because love is a fire-flame kindled by
Jehovah himself
ACT III. SCENE IV.
THE WAKING HEART.
Chapter V. 2-8.
As in the second movement of the poem,
which we have called Act II., so in this part
of the development of the plot, a night-dream
succeeds the day-vision or ideal scene. The
young girl falls into slumber ; her body re-
maining in the palace, while her soul goes out
to play.
" Hark, my beloved is knocking ! Hear his
voice ! ' Open to me, my sister, my dear, my dove,
my perfect. My head is filled with dew, and my
locks with the drops of the night.' "
The Shulamite girl, by the dream-magic
which annihilates distance, is no longer in the
Jerusalem palace, but in her northern home,
among her native hills. She is not now attired
in silk and jewels and embroidered sandals,
but in her vineyard dress and with bare feet.
Wearied, after the day's hard toil, she has re-
tired very early to rest, expecting no visit. In
her dream she is again the simple country maid
THE WAKING HEART. 21/
under her mother's cottage roof. Suddenly
she hears a knock at the door and a familiar
voice pleading. He has come a long distance,
he is standing out in the cold air after sunset,
in the chill night of Palestine, in which the
dews fall like rain. He calls her in that par-
ticular tone of address such as the king never
uses, and by which we may easily distinguish
the speakers in each of the dialogues. He did
not know the house would be closed at so early
an hour. He pleads that she will arise, dress,
and meet him.
She, on the contrary, wishing not to be dis-
turbed, answers coldly, petulantly, almost
rudely. Just as a Hindoo of to-day, if called
upon after the lights are out, makes excuse
that he will soil his feet by rising, so she de-
clines to open the door. A modern lady who
had retired earlier than usual, not expecting a
call or company, would, less accurately doubt-
less, answer or send word, " not at home," or at
least, " retired." More frankly, but with equal
discouragement to the visitor, the reply is
made :
*' I have undressed, how can I dress again ? I
have washed my feet, how can I soil them again .'' "
The idea is that not only has the bath been
taken, but even the feet have been washed, so
2l8 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
that to tread again on the earthen floor of the
cottage would be undesirable. Compare for
illustration the words of Christ to Peter in the
Revision, " He that is bathed needeth not save
to wash his feet." In our summer sea-bath-
ing, as all know, we wash our feet, even after
the sea-plunge, and then are clean every whit :
afterwards, we do not like to tread on loose
earth, or the sandy boards of the bath-house.
The floor of the average house in the East is
of earth ; hence the Shulamite's excuse.
But the lover, not knowing his beloved had
already retired to bed, had at the moment of
speaking put his hand on the wooden pin of
the latch, and holding it while talking, he now,
on being refused so unexpectedly, withdraws
his hand and departs.
Then, — oh, how true to life this is ! Every
good, every honorable man who is suitor for a
maiden's hand, but unexpert in the mysteries
of a woman's heart ought to know it ; and
would that the pure and good men knew it as
thoroughly for good, as wicked men who play
on the weakness of feminine affection know it
for evil! — then, after she has spoken harsh, re-
pelling words, and driven her lover off, there
comes to her a revulsion of feeling. Her heart
within her is moved. When a woman denies
you harshly, she is sure to be sorry she did it.
THE WAKING HEART. 219
A woman's " no " often means " yes " — if you
don't try to win her too easily. So, forgetting
all her excuses, the Shulamite girl dresses has-
tily, and rushes to the door. Whether sug-
gested in poetic hyperbole, or as a literal fact,
that the lover has come dressed in his best
clothes, and all perfumed to make his visit to
his beloved, the latch is redolent with myrrh.
Myrrh is the inexpensive drug with which even
a poor shepherd could add to his personal at-
tractions, and which, we may remember, being
last and humblest of the three Magi's offer-
ings to the infant Christ, tradition assigns to
the slave, the king bringing gold, and the
nobleman frankincense.
Lifting the latch and opening the cottage
door, she hopes to catch sight of her lover's
departing figure, but he has vanished in the
night's darkness. She strains her ear to catch
the echo of his distant footfalls, but in vain.
Her heart sinks, as she realizes how hard, se-
vere, cruel, she has been. She calls, but no
answer, and the night but mocks her cries.
She rushes into the void to seek and call him
back.
" My love put his hand at the door-hole, and my
heart was moved within me ; I rose to open to my
beloved, and my hands dropped myrrh, and my fin-
gers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the
220 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
bolt. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had
turned away — he was gone! My soul went forth
to him when he spoke ; I sought him, but I found
him not. I called to him, but he did not answer
me."
Then, by that strange mixture of situations
that belongs to dreams, and which the Bible
felicitously exhibits, she finds herself not in
the neighborhood of her home in Galilee in
which the dream began, but a hundred miles
away in the streets of Jerusalem. There the
watchmen, about whom she dreamed once be-
fore, meet her. Evidently, and in reality, she
had a dread of these officers of the law, for
twice have they appeared in her dreams. Now,
they treat her as a thief or a disorderly char-
acter. They beat her, they wound her, they
pull off her veil, — the highest insult to an
Oriental woman ; to wear the veil being an
honor, to have it torn off, dishonor.
" Yes, the ruffians, the sentinels on the walls
did it," she cries with emphasis, as she wakes
up and thinks of her dream.
How important to social propriety in the
costume of an Oriental lady the veil or veil-
garment was, is shown by the concern of Re-
becca on coming in sight of Isaac, in Genesis
xxiv. 64, 65. The characteristic token of a
woman's being betrothed or married was the
THE WAKING HEART. 221
veil. It was a sign, easily and purposely re-
cognizable in public, that she no longer be-
longed to herself, but was part of another.
To express the same purport the betrothed
maidens and the wives of Japan formerly
stained their teeth black and shaved off their
eyebrows, thus veiling their beauty. It was
this idea of the veil as a symbol of " power on
her head," or "a sign of [her husband's] au-
thority," to which Paul referred, in i Cor. xi.
10. To the Hebrew maiden the veil was at
once honor and protection.
To return to the dreaming Shulamite, we
find her waking up, startled and alarmed at
finding the sad reality of her position. Was
she overheard talking in her sleep, or weeping,
or crying out } Do the ladies of the harem
question her.' She thus makes answer to their
inquiries :
" I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem ! O that
you would find my beloved. And what will you tell
him ? — that I am sick with love."
Is this her cry of despair .-' Must she yield
to the king, because of her very helplessness }
Man's sorrows are, in all literature and in the
Bible, told often enough. Woman must take
the iron into her soul, and complain not.
For her travail, pain, physical woes, the He-
222 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
brew prophets and the Man of Sorrows spake
often in tenderest compassion. With the
griefs of the mind, there is for woman less
sympathy, in expression at least. It was a
man who cried out, " Lover and friend hast
Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance
into darkness." In chapter xxix. of the great
spiritual drama of Job, the suffering hero utters
his great cry de profundis that yet rises into a
victor's recognition of his Kinsman-rescuer,
who is to stand Survivor and Vindicator over
his dust. Yet here is a woman with breaking
heart, in mortal terror, and in mental travail,
who, in the darkest hour that comes before the
dawn, might have joined the cry of the Psalmist
and the man of Uz, and uttered them in pathos
of equal suffering. Surely for her there must
be deliverance from One who in rescuing her
will exalt his name J ah.
ACT IV. SCENE I.
THE BELOVED AND HIS CHARMS.
Chapter V. 9-VI. 3.
A VERY remarkable feature of the Song of
Songs is the frequent description of the human
body and its members. In other parts of Scrip-
ture, and especially in the books of wisdom,
the body in whole or part is indeed referred to,
and its interior arrangements or external ap-
pearance described. In the Book of Job, in
Psalm cxxxix. and others, and in Ecclesiastes,
chapter xii., where under the figure of a house
the human body is scanned with a poet's eye,
we have detailed allusions to the human fig-
ure. In the Canticle, however, we find no
fewer than five minute and separate descrip-
tions of the physical appearance of the persons
in the drama. Three of these are by Solomon
of the Shulamite, one is by the Shulamite of
her lover, and one of the Shulamite by the
court ladies. All in the Canticle treat of the
external attractions of the body and its mem-
bers, in terms of sensuous admiration ; whereas
in the other poetical books of the Hebrews
224 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
the language is that of reflection, the view
being directed to the wonders of the inward
economy.
In this scene we find that the Shulamite,
having been thrice told of her own attractions,
now proceeds to describe those of her beloved,
the shepherd.
The curiosity of the court ladies being
aroused by the constant references of the Shu-
lamite to her " beloved," they inquire of her,
and ask her to tell them who and what he is.
In their language do we not detect a tone of
pique and the sarcasm which we heard before }
Her persistent talk and one idea have become
monotonous. They ask :
" What is this beloved of yours more than any
other beloved, you prettiest woman in the world ?
What is your beloved any more than any other be-
loved, that you adjure us in this style ? "
Then, excited to enthusiasm, as people
deeply in love invariably are when any one
speaks against the one they elect favorite, — for
one easy way to discover what a maiden thinks
of her real or supposed lover is to attack and
abuse him, — the Shulamite bursts out for the
first time in impassioned praise of the charms
of her betrothed.
" What is my beloved, do you ask ? —
THE BELOVED AND HIS CHARMS. 22$
" He is glowing white and blood red, as a stand-
ard-bearer among a myriad. His head is pure gold,
his locks are bushy, curl upon curl, and black as
the raven. His eyes are as doves by brooks of
water, bathing in milk set in brimming vessels.
His cheeks are as beds of balsam, as banks of
sweet herbs. His lips are lilies dropping odorous
dew. His hands are cylinders of gold tipped with
topaz. His body is a figure of bright ivory inlaid
with sapphires. His legs are columns of white mar-
ble set on bases of gold. His aspect is as Lebanon,
impressive as the majestic cedars. His speech is
most sweet, and his whole person is altogether
lovely. This (in answer to your question), ladies of
Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend."
With warmth of Oriental exaggeration, but
in chaste poetic phrase, the maid of Galilee
portrays the manly beauty of him who to her
is the one altogether lovely and the chief among
ten thousand. With exquisite abandon, this
unsophisticated girl describes her beloved in
terms of sensuous admiration. To her maga-
zine of symbols drawn from nature and the
landscape of her home, she adds others newly
acquired from her luxurious surroundings in
the royal palace. Hers is not the praise of a
sage, an aged and reflective student, as in the
description of the human body as a house in
the last chapter of Ecclesiastes, with its subtle
226 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
allusions to anatomy and the marvelous func-
tions of the various organs. She sees indeed
the veins that appear through the transparent
skin of her beloved, but there is no suggestion
of the circulation, nor reference to the cistern,
or wheel or pitcher at the fountain, but only
the contrasting colors of ivory and sapphire.
So the fingers and legs are not seen with the
eye of an anatomist, but the pretty contrasts in
tint between the healthy skin and the rosy fin-
ger-nail, and in the column's shaft and base of
limb and foot, are noted with admiration.
Hers is the language of youthful enthusiasm.
Her descriptions are those of an inexperienced
young girl. With unerring artistic sense, the
poet is here true to life.
The ladies of the harem are interested at
least in her fluent encomiums. They are burn-
ing with curiosity to behold this paragon of
manly beauty. They offer to go with her to
find him. Reverting to the dream, in which
he turned away from the doorstep, they ask :
"Whither has thy beloved gone, thou fairest
among women, whither has thy beloved turned,
that we may seek him with thee? "
Their curiosity is becoming dangerous, and
she must evade their request. She answers :
" My beloved has gone down to his garden, to
THE BELOVED AA'D HIS CHARMS. 22 7
the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to
gather lilies."
Thus bafifling her inquisitors, the scene ends
as usual in this poem, by the refrain of unwav-
ering love :
" My beloved is mine and I am his. He feedeth
his flock among the lilies."
This is the lover whom the poet of the Can-
ticle pictures, and this is the nature of her sore
trial to be perforce away from him and endure
separation. No picture here, in this holy poem,
of gross and carnal delights inflaming fleshly
lust. The lover dwells upon mountains that
are distant, retreats to the garden of spices,
and feeds his flock among the lilies. An un-
earthly glory seems to wrap him round. In
mind he seems ever near. In chaste love of
the spirit he is at hand. Youth, beauty, wis-
dom, strength, are all his, and to her pure
mind he is present, congenial, devoted, getting
and giving happiness, but at the suggestion of
the intruder's presence, of aught gross or carnal,
he is far off, unattainable, like an ideal that
ever eludes.
Yet the maiden loves him all the more, even
while her eyes hunger for a sight of his form
and her heart yearns for his presence. The
poet purposely makes this the burden of her
228 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
trial, — to be kept long absent from him, that
she may be tested. She is the one to be proved,
not he. And thus, with superfine art, or divine
inspiration, — shall we say both .'' — the Shula-
mite becomes to us a type of those who, not
having seen, love with joy unspeakable and full
of glory the great Lover of our souls.
We have but again to compare the addresses
of the shepherd-lover with those of the king,
to see clearly the nature of real love and of am-
bition or carnal desire. The intention of the
poet, and of the Divine Spirit who inspired the
poet, we doubt not, is that we all should see
and discriminate.
Let lover and maid alike study this book,
and by it cleanse their love from earthly stain.
Truly the young man in love, or who may some
day be in love, and the heart of youth may
ever ask, " Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his ways ?" And the answer is, "By
taking heed thereto, according to thy Word,"
— the Word in which this Canticle is set as a
gem. Surely we need no allegory, no mysti-
cism, to cover up the pure and lofty meaning
of this holy book. Strange, indeed, if in all
the revelation of God to man there were no
message for human love ; but the message is
here.
ACT IV. SCENE II.
COMPARED WITH PRINCESSES.
Chapter VI. 4-9.
Language is petrified history. As the pol-
ished marble which tops the tables in our
drawing-rooms reveals the forms of ocean life
in the primeval world, so the fossil words of a
language uncover man's thoughts. The geol-
ogist constructs his map and calendar by ex-
amination and location of the deposits in the
rocks, and tells the visionary miner whether it
is possible or impossible to find gold or coal,
and whether the relics found of man or brute
are of yesterday or of the ages, naturally de-
posited or artificial, anachronous, and foreign.
A study of words is as interesting as that
of bones or footprints, and the Bible reads
like a new book, its passages glow afresh with
a glory all their own, when read not in the
ten thousand broken lights of tradition, but
according to the root-meanings. Eloquently
does the Hebrew reveal the primitive state of
society in the land of Jehovah. With equal
suggestiveness do the intruded foreign words
230 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
tell their own story. Satan can easily be
picked out among the sons of God. Speech
is a subtle betrayer, not alone of Peter, but of
itself.
In illustration of this is the word pilegesh,
which in every book of the English form of
the Old Testament, except Daniel, stands for
concubine, or half-wife. This is a foreign
word and does not belong to the Hebrew
tongue. The speech of the Semitic tribes and
clans, the patriarchs and prophets of Israel,
used only the simple august words " woman,"
** wife." These are names sufficient for kings,
priests, prophets, and the Christ who always
addressed his mother by the grand title of
"woman."
In the ancient unluxurious ages of sim-
plicity and chastity, when the laws requiring
personal purity were severe but wholesome,
no word for concubine existed, for none was
necessary. A man even like Abraham might
have other women in his household beside
the first and true wife, but this was for the
sake of heirs, and such subordinate women
were as servants, and subject to the wife who
was mistress of the house. When, however,
the ancient simplicity degenerated into luxu-
riousness, and from the heathen and their
sensual orgies associated with idol worship
COMPARED WITH PRIXCESSES. 23 I
lewdness increased among the Israelites, wo-
men were multiplied in the household in mere
wantonness of lust or ambition. Polygamy-
crept in and sought for recognition and even
institution, and a new word was necessary.
That word is pilegcsli, unknown in the an-
cient Semitic languages, and borrowed from
some Indo- Germanic people, probably the
Greeks, through the Phoenicians, who traded
in slave girls. The original Sanskrit root-word,
pallavaka, means a girl, and underlies the
\^2i\Xvi pellcx, and Grtok pa llakis.
This history of the Hebrews, as reflected in
speech, is substantially the same in all those
nations which, emerging from primitive sim-
plicity, when offenses against the laws of pu-
rity were summarily dealt with, passed into the
stage of sensual luxury. With the degrada-
tion of morals went the disease and decay of
language, the words of grand simplicity being
degraded, and the terms for abominable per-
sons and things made euphemistic. Between
the history of Japan, especially, and of Israel,
this correspondence as to words and facts,
language and history, is. very close.
In the later Hebrew of Daniel, these brevet-
wives, holding but a fraction of their lord's
affections, are called by a name meaning " she
that amuses," " singing girl," or " sporting
232 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
one." It was Solomon, however, who first
began the assembling of these idle people in
large numbers, for his own selfish ambition
and gratification, at the public expense. The
poet in the Canticle represents him even boast-
ing of the great harem which he had collected,
and numbering his sinful possessions. In this
poetical book the smaller number, as compared
with the figures in the historical records, seems
at first rather to his credit. The "maidens
without number " show, on the other hand,
that there is hardly ground even for a discrep-
ancy, or copyist's mistake, in favor of the
royal sinner.
Solomon again appears at verse 4, chapter
vi., and begins his advances in the following
address. He has heard that the Shulamite is
the only daughter of her mother, and that the
women of the harem have, in talking about her,
praised her highly. They not only commend
her character, but they wonder who she can be
who is compared to sun and moon, terrible
even to Solomon the emperor. The king's
words now show far more respect and real ad-
miration than before, for he sees in this pure-
minded Hebrew girl something quite different
from the frivolous beauties of the harem.
" Thou art fair, my dear, as Tirzah, comely as
Jerusalem, terrible as bannered hosts. Turn away
COMPARED WITH PRINCESSES. 233
thine eyes from me, they have taken me by storm.
Thy tresses are as flocks of goats descending
Gilead, thy teeth as a flock of ewes that come up
from the washing, each the mother of twins and
not one of them sterile. Like a slice of pome-
granate, are thy cheeks from behind thy veil."
With repetition of the same flatteries w^hich
he has used before, but with a notable differ-
ence, and v^ith an abrupt change that is sug-
gestive, the king again makes approaches, but
writh manifestly little success. He begins a
set speech, which puts in comparison the pic-
turesque city of Tirzah with the grand metrop-
olis of Jerusalem. Does not the poet represent
the royal suitor as influenced suddenly by the
flashing eyes of the unyielding beauty, which
apparently so disconcert him that he falls
into repeating his former compliments .-• Yet
is not this the effect upon a man who, it may
be, even against his will and expectation, has
found arising in himself, instead of a playful
mood, a sincere feeling of regard .-' If Solo-
mon, in place of a frivolous idling away of
spare moments in the empty flatteries and
erotic diversions by which he had led captive
hundreds of silly women, now found that he
himself was moved with new feelings, would
not his speech betray his changed emotion ?
Indeed, does not the genius of Hebrew poetry
234 STUDIES AKD COMMENTS.
require this ? Certainly it is very noticeable
that this address, in its abruptness and sudden
changes of thought, differs vastly from the
almost perfect poem (chapter iv. 1-5, 7), in
which his former praises were wrought in
superb literary proportion and in unbroken
and progressive ideas. In this one scene,
devoted entirely to the king's unsuccessful
love-making, we gather that the Shulamite is
less approachable than before, and the royal
suitor is utterly disconcerted. He no longer
draws comparison with the inanimate things
of architecture, or with the pretty doves, snow-
white sheep, and glistening goats of Gilead,
but lifts his ideas and raises his standard even
so high as to set this rustic maiden above the
ladies of the palace, — yes, even above the
princesses. They are a mass, a crowd ; she
is one and perfect. Hear him :
" There are threescore queens, fourscore concu-
bines {pUegesh-im) and young maidens without num-
ber. My dove is my only one, my undefiled, the
delight of her mother, the choice of the one who
bore her. The daughters saw her and blessed her ;
the queens and the concubines {pilegesh-im) and
they praised her."
Since the Canticle contains many allusions
to the book of Genesis, it may be that here
the poet had in his mind's eye the expression
COMPARED WITH PRINCESSES. 235
of Leah (xxx. 13), " Happy am I, for the
daughters will call me blessed ; " and of this
ancient womanly song of triumph, the refer-
ence of Solomon is an echo ; while of this
again, that of Proverbs xxxi, 28 is a prolonga-
tion of the same strain of praise to her who
remains content with the chief treasures of
woman's estate — purity in single, and mother-
hood in married life. Most naturally the wis-
dom-literature of the Hebrews, transcending
the narrow limits of Israel, takes hold on ab-
stract, that is, universal truth, with all that
belongs to humanity. It refers in retrospec-
tive glance even to time when the very name
of Hebrew was not even so much as " a geo-
graphical abstraction." Before Israel was, the
human heart is.
ACT IV. SCENE III,
THE DANCE OF MAHANAIM.
Chapter VII. 1-7.
Three times has the sovereign of the He-
brew empire made love to his subject, the
maid of Galilee. In three separate forms of
address has the wooing been done, — once in
the chat of informal conversation, once with
elaborate sonnet in which the graces of speech
were presented in fascinating forms, again in
language fair but broken, — that reflect the
changing emotion of the speaker. Yet the
girl who has left her heart behind her, in keep-
ing of her lover who feeds his flock among
the lilies, gives no sign of swerving from her
beloved.
That the other women should either jeal-
ously inquire about, or admiringly praise, the
new-comer, the meadow wild flower, does but
fire Solomon's desire to possess her to adorn
his garden of beauty. Her charms and graces
and love-sickness, and, above all, her obstinate
refusal to be satisfied with harem life, her flat
rejection of the king, have made her the talk
THE DANCE OF MAHANAIM. 23/
of the harem. It is the ladies of the court
who ask,
" Who is she, what is she, that looketh forth as
the dawn, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, this
one as terrible as an army with banners? "
Or, in the rendering of a modern translator,
" Who is this with glances like the dawn,
Fair as the silver moon,
Bright as the noontide fire.
Inspiring terror like the bannered host ? "
The Shulamite answers the questions of the
ladies by narrating her experience when, as a
modest young girl, she was brought uninten-
tionally into the very presence of royalty. She
did not seek the notoriety which has been
thrust upon her, but encountered it unexpect-
edly in the ordinary line of duty and expe-
rience.
"To the nut gardens, I went down to look at the
shrubs of the valley, to see whether the vines bud-
ded, or the pomegranates bloomed.
" Then, before ever I was aware, this desire of
mine brought me into the chariots of my princely
people " [Aminadab].
Here in this almond-garden, while the beau-
tiful maiden found something that changed
her environment and made her immortal in
poetry, the student finds a nut which no one
238 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
has satisfactorily cracked. There is evidently
rich meat in the kernel when once obtained.
The Hebrew text reads Ammi-nadib, which is
most probably a proper name. The Septua-
gint and Vulgate versions read Aminadab,
which is a common noun of multitude. Does
the passage mean that this chance impulse
of the maiden was the means of placing her in
the chariot by which she was brought to the
royal harem } Was she kidnapped "> Let us
see.
In the Hebrew expression, "my soul made
me chariots of Ammi-Nadib," there may be a
possible reference to the king's charioteer,
perhaps the Jehu of his time. In the version
of 161 1, the rendering is "My soul made me
like the chariots of Ammi-nadib." In the ver-
sion of 1884, it is " My soul set me among the
chariots of my princely people." The theory
of a proper name has been adopted in the one
case, and that of a common noun in the other.
What can be said on both sides of the ques-
tion .'*
In Exodus vi. 23, Ammi-Nadab is a man's
name, meaning "one of the people" (of the
prince). In 2 Samuel vi. 3, Abinadab, whose
name means a "princely" or "royal father,"
was the keeper of the ark of God, which was
put in the new chariot or cart driven by his
THE DANCE OF M AH AN AIM. 239
sons to Zion in Jerusalem, Is the allusion
here to Solomon, as the "princely father" of
Israel, and to his chariots that were to move to
Zion and Jerusalem with their new freight —
the Shulamite ?
Or is the contrary the idea intended, that,
as if in the swift chariots of Ammi-Nadib, the
thoughts of the young girl were in an instant
swiftly transported to her home, so that she
turned to flee ?
May it not be possible that the word orig-
inally written by the poet here was Ahinadab,
the name of Solomon's commissary officer at
Mahanaim (i Kings iv. 14), and that on this
particular journey of the king and court he
had charge of the transport and commissariat
of the whole party ? Ahinadab may have been
a skilled and swift charioteer. His name
means "noble brother," and a slight change of
stroke in the second Hebrew letter would
make either reading. It is remarkable that
both the Septuagint and the Vulgate spell
the name with one m.
In the joy of her young heart, this lovely
country girl in the valley of Jezreel has
thrown aside her veil, and is singing and dan-
cing in innocent glee, rejoicing in her own
opening life, the joy of new-found love, and
the freshness of springtime. Solomon, ac-
240 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
companied by his court, is making a pleasure
excursion in the northern part of his kingdom
— a land rich in vineyards and pastoral scen-
ery. The noble lords of the court are lost in
admiration of this fair creature dancing in the
nut-gardens with joy. The girl, hitherto uncon-
scious of their presence, soon comes near the
road, and is startled at beholding the splendid
array of palanquins, horses, and chariots. She
shrinks back shyly from the knightly riders in
the cavalcade and turns to run away. The
people in the royal train, possibly the king
himself, at once cry out :
" Return, return,
O Shulamite !
Return, return,
That we may look upon you."
Coyly the maiden approaches and asks,
" What do you see in the Shulamite 1 "
Full of admiration, the courtiers answer in
chorus :
" As it were, the dance of Mahanaim " [double
choirs].
Here, again, a difficulty arises in translation
of the proper name Mahanaim, but the case is
of extreme interest. The Revision of 1884,
changing the text of 161 1, prints the word
untranslated. Herein also is illustrated the
THE DANCE OF MAHANAIM. 24 1
truth that, to the reverent and critical students
of every generation who study the Bible afresh,
new beauties become visible like new stars and
constellations which appear in the sky. Yet
the stars are not new-born, they have always
been there, unseen or unnoticed. We may
see how fresh scrutiny revealed a forgotten
historical allusion and a poetical antithesis in
the name Tirzah contrasted with Jerusalem.
So, too, it is doubtful whether the earlier trans-
lators caught the delicate allusion in the reply
of the ladies to the Shulamite's question. Our
old version, following the Septuagint and Vul-
gate, says. What will ye see in the Shulamite ?
As it were, the company of two armies (the
margin giving Mahanaim).
The Revision translates, putting the two
sentences below in the mouth of the young
girl, —
*' Why will ye look upon the Shulamite,
As upon the dance of Mahanaim ? "
We prefer here to read not only the ques-
tion of the maiden, but also the answer of a
chorus requesting her to repeat, in the palace,
before their eyes, what the courtiers in the
cavalcade had seen in the northern valley.
Here again a proper name, the name of a
place famous by old and sacred associations.
242 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
was forgotten, or passed over, until Luther
and the Reformers saw the point.
The reference points to the second vision of
angels which Jacob saw east of the Jordan,
after leaving Mizpah. He named the place
Mahanaim, which means two camps, or two
hosts, or armies, — the one earthly, his own
household and following, and the other the
heavenly host of throbbing, singing, happy
angels.
So here, the courtiers of Solomon, looking
upon this living tableau of maidenly loveUness,
declare that the young girl's airy, fairy motions
remind them of Jacob's celestial visitants.
The sight of her is that of angelic beauty and
heavenly winsomeness, recalling the ascend-
ing and descending of the angels upon the
ladder or stairs from earth to heaven.
The full import of these words of the dance
or graceful motion, as of angels, was first dis-
cerned by Ewald, the great German scholar,
who has unraveled so many knotty passages
in the Old Testament, though Luther first
caught the idea that the proper name of Maha-
naim should be in the text and not the mar-
gin, and so inserted it in the page of the Ger-
man Bible. To this one of several reminis-
cences of ideas or events in the book of
Genesis, and not to the "hanging dance" of
THE DANCE OF MAHANAIM. 243
the Syrian peasantry, made by double rows of
youths and maidens, described by Wetstein, we
believe the reference in the Canticle to be
made. Still, it is possible that the name of the
dance refers only and immediately to the fes-
tive celebrations which the court people and
the king may have witnessed only a few days
before at the chariot-town east of the Jordan,
of which Ahinadab was overseer.
Charmed with her modest description of that
episode in her life which brought her near
royalty, the court ladies insist upon her dan-
cing before them, in the manner of the dance
of Mahanairn. The verses following at the
beginning of chapter vii. show that she yielded
to their request, for these words are the de-
scription of an active dancer, and the praise
is that of a woman by women.
The copious vocabulary in Hebrew for the
variety of dances mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment, and the many references to this mode of
showing delight, of celebrating great national
events, or of worshiping God, show that the
chosen people of Jehovah made their religion
a part of common life, and mingled joyousness
with worship. Services commemorating great
deliverances of Providence, miraculous events,
famous visions or theophanies, were held at the
various sacred places. These places were
244 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
quite numerous before worship was centralized
at Jerusalem. Dances were a regular part of
these popular memorial celebrations, and the
vision of angels seen by Jacob at Mahanaim
was doubtless commemorated by the people of
this famous town, Mahanaim, and by the in-
habitants of the adjacent region, who were ac-
customed to visit the holy place. The idea
and purpose of the dance may have been to
represent the ascending and descending of the
angels upon the ladder, or rocky stairs, leading
up to heaven. The Hebrew word mecJiolaJi,
which the Shulamite here uses, is the term for
a religious dance, and is the same as that which
describes the holy and patriotic rejoicings of
Miriam (Ex. xv. 20), and of the maidens who
met Jephthah (Judg. xi. 34), and David (i Sam.
xxi. II), as well as those of Shiloh whom the
men of Benjamin (Judg. xxi. 21) caught to
make wives of. The dancing of the maidens
at the popular festival at Shiloh was probably
in idea, if not in technical method, the same as
the dances at Mahanaim. It may be remem-
bered that Elisha (i Kings xix. 16) was born
at a place meaning " The Meadow of Dancing."
To gratify the ladies of the court, and per-
haps to forget her own present sorrows by
throwing herself heart and soul into the past,
the young girl begins the mecholaJi, or dance.
THE DAXCE OF MAHAA'AIM. 245
From the compliments and exclamations of
the admiring ladies the poet composes another
of those glowing descriptions of the human fig-
ure which form so notable a feature of the
Song of Songs, and indeed of the poetical
books of the Bible. Beginning most fitly with
the feet, and mounting to the luxuriant tresses,
the women praise her, calling her " the daugh-
ter of nadib" or nobleness ; or " princely-
daughter." It is probable that the poet here
represents not the voice of one, but the excla-
mations, the enthusiastic cries, of many de-
lighted spectators ; and that the first part of
verse second turns from the person of the
dancer to the elegance of her art.
" How graceful are thy stoppings in thy sandals,
O noble daughter ! "
" The curves of thy thighs are like circlets of
gold, the work of a master's hand ! "
"Thy round dancings are perfect circles ! "
" Let not variations be wanting ! "
"Thy body is like a sheaf of wheat garlanded
with lilies ! "
" Thy bosom is like two fawns, twins of a ga-
zelle ! "
" Thy neck is like an ivory tower ! "
" Thine eyes are as the pools in Heshbon, by the
gate of Bath-rabbim ! "
" Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, facing
Damascus ! "
246 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
" Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the
tresses of thy head like dark purple ! "
" In the ringlets thereof, even a king is held cap-
tive ! "
" How fair and pleasant art thou called ' love '
for delights ! "
" This thy figure is like that of a palm, and thy
bosom is like its clusters ! "
Here ends the description, for a nev\r voice
and presence unexpectedly break upon the
scene. From the tints spread on Nature's pal-
ette, u^heat-yellow and lily-v\;hite ; from things
striking and graceful in art, architecture, and
household adornment ; the artificial splendors
of parks, gardens, villas, and fortresses; the
face and figure, the color and expression, the
lovely charms of the rustic dancer are por-
trayed, as she snatches many a grace beyond
the reach of the harem's art, and seems to the
gazers incarnate poetry.
The change of v^^ords from those in the ordi-
nary versions of the Hebrew of verse second,
which our readers will notice, making the ref-
erence to motion instead of to nature's scar
left on the body at birth, is, we think, fully
ustifiable. It was first proposed by Daland.
The reasons for the change are, first, that the
word " navel " is never used in the Bible in
connection with beauty, or as an object of ad-
THE DANCE OF MAHANAIM. 24/
miration ; second, that it seems useless, dispro-
portional, and an unusual repetition in so short
a passage, to praise first the depression in the
waist, and then the waist itself, there being no
parallelism in this purely descriptive portion of
the poem ; third, it seems to break the harmony
and progress of the poetic inventory of attrac-
tions ; fourth, the Hebrew word here used is
the active participle of the verb sJiorar, mean-
ing to turn round, to move in a circle, and this
is the only one in the Bible which contains this
particular grammatical form ; the other places,
Prov. iii. 8, Job xl. 16, and Ezek. xvi. 4, having
different forms, though from the same root,
as even the English reader may see in Young's
Concordance ; fifth, the word translated " gob-
let " is derived from a root meaning circular
treading with the feet, and the term "perfect
circles," or " cup-round figures," seems here
most appropriate ; sixth, the word translated
" mingled wine," or " liquor," means mixture,
and, applied to the dance, would mean varia-
tions, even as we read in musical notation the
phrase "add mixtures;" seventh, the sense,
modesty, and form of this English rendering
seem to be more in accord with the general
idea of the poem, which is chastely pure in
word and delicate in idea throughout.
ACT IV. SCENE IV.
THE IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS.
Chapter VII. 8-VIII. 4.
Does the poet represent the king present
as an unsuspected and unseen looker-on, who
from behind column, screen, or tapestry has
enjoyed the spectacle of the dance of Maha-
naim ?
However this may be, we find him at verses
eighth and ninth addressing the fair one named
"love," who has so pleased the women of the
harem. Is the strong king, who is not accus-
tomed to be crossed in his purposes, now about
to crush the obstinacy of his humble subject,
and make her know her place, — the place of
passive obedience ? Such a doctrine was
taught even to people of the Germanic race in
Great Britain two centuries ago. Does the
wooer here become the sovereign ? Hear Sol-
omon's ultimatum :
" I said, ' I will climb up into the palm tree, I
will take hold of its branches : may thy bosom be
unto me as clusters of the vine, and the fragrance
of thy breath as apples, and thy mouth as the best
wine.' "
THE IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS. 249
The king would say more, but is here inter-
rupted by the maiden, who gives him to under-
stand that her charms are for her beloved only,
and that for him are her favors reserved. In
this, her sharpest conflict with the royal
tempter, she is still unswervingly true to her
absent lover. No sooner does the word tab
(best) leave Solomon's lips, than the maiden
interrupts him to reply :
" Flowing properly [only] for my beloved, caus-
ing slumbering lips to move. I am my beloved's,
and to me is his desire."
In addition to the reasons before given for
seeing at this point an interruption, and a
change of speaker, we may add that the origi-
nal word here translated " properly " and by
the revisers of 1884 "smoothly," or in the mar-
gin " aright," is the same as in chapter i. 4,
"rightly," or "in uprightness." In several
other places, as in Isaiah xxvi. 7 and xxxiii. 15,
in which the word occurs, the root idea is that
of righteousness, propriety. The manifest im-
port of the words here put by the poet into
the Shulamite's mouth is that her kisses and
caresses, even though a king not only desires
but compares them to his best wine, belong
rightly only to her betrothed lover. No open
" door " free to suitors, even though royal, is
250 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
she, but a " wall," resisting all improper ad-
vances. The charms of this virgin reared in
a pure Israelite home are as " towers," impreg-
nable to the strongest assaults of the tempter.
She herself is an invincible fortress.
Kisses and caresses are among the good gifts
of God rightly to be used, and not abused unto
sin. The wine of love " causes even slumber-
ing lips to move," and after separation from
her beloved, even in the hours of sleep, the
raptures of love's communion are enjoyed again
in dream, and the parted lips move with audi-
ble question and response. In slumbering or
in waking hours, the lover remembers his be-
loved ; and his soliloquies are of her " who
dwelleth in the gardens." Love invades all
states of body and mind with welcomed des-
potism.
In this, the Shulamite's firm declaration, is
again the keynote to victory, for the religion of
Jehovah, which the king with all his errors has
not renounced, forbids him to use force against
a woman. Here we behold the better nature
of Solomon. The nobler side of his character
comes into view when we find that he honors
and admires the steadfast resistance to all his
flatteries and blandishments. Magnanimously
he, though a king, confesses himself a rejected
suitor and lets her go free. The lion will not
THE IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS. 25 I
rend the lamb, the eagle does not tear the dove.
Unlike many a baffled suitor of our day, who by
murder or slander wreaks revenge upon the
woman who has declined his addresses, or un-
like Henry VIII., who sent his wives to the axe
and block, the Hebrew king does the Shulamite
no harm in body or in character, orders her
not to sword, dungeon, or disgrace, but mag-
nanimously gives her to freedom and home, to
lover and marriage. He who sent his political
enemies to death yet spared this girl.
Resuming the thread of our narrative and
the plot of the poem, we find the Shulamite
has not yet started for home. She is still in
the palace in Jerusalem, but indulging in the
thought that she is already free. She antici-
pates in day-dream that meeting with her be-
trothed which is so soon to be. Solomon,
great-hearted even in his disappointment, will
send her back to her northern home, even as
he lately took her away. This is what she will
say to her lover when she meets him safe at
home, on the dear old doorstep once again :
" Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the
fields, let us lodge under the cypress boughs. Let
us start early for the vineyards, to see whether the
vine has sprouted, or its blossoms opened, or the
pomegranates budded. There will I give thee my
love. The love-apples smell sweet, and over our
252 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
cottage-door grow all sorts of excellent fruits, new
as well as old, which, my beloved, I have reserved
for thee."
Then follows the joyful innocent outburst of
a guileless child, to whom, though she be a
maiden grown, a lover is but a good brother.
An angel might envy such artless love dwelling
in a human heart. To the pure, that is pure
which another judges vilely of. One line of
difference ever dividing good and bad men is
this, —their belief or unbelief in the absolute
guilelessness of natural maidenhood. As pure
as a sister's affection for her brother, or as a
mother's for her babe, is this transparent rap-
ture of a crystal heart when she cries :
" O that thou wert as my brother that sucked the
breasts of my mother. Should I find thee without
the door, I then would kiss thee and no one would
condemn me. I would lead thee and bring thee into
my mother's house, and thou shouldst be my
teacher and I should cause thee to drink the spiced
wine of my pomegranate juice."
" Ah, yes," she would say, " if you were only
my brother, I could do this and none would
be shocked or scandalized at it. Not yet can
this be ; but some time by marriage we shall
be one, and the pleasures of constant compan-
ionship will be ours."
THE IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS. 2$$
Yet, in imagination, she continues :
" His left hand should be under my head, and
his right hand should embrace me."
Then for the last time she adjures the palace
ladies, and this time her formula of importu-
nity is abbreviated ; but there is added a new
element of earnestness, and the refrain takes
the form of an emphatic question which means
exultation and victory.
" I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, for
why should ye rouse or excite love till it please ? "
Why is the formula of adjuration here abbre-
viated, and with no mention of the " roes and
hinds of the field " ? Is it a sign of her haste,
and desire at once to leave the palace, shake
off the dust of Jerusalem, and be off to her
mountain home ?
Or is it because the whole question of artifi-
cially excited love is safely past, and pure spon-
taneous love is now in view again ?
Or does the poet mean that that part of
passion which is of the flesh, which man shares
with the brutes of the field, must be forgotten
in the holy friendship of souls united in di-
vinely ordained wedlock ? Certainly the omis-
sion of the one reference, and the reinforce-
ment of the other, at this point, are equally
remarkable, adding another to the distinctly
dramatic features of the poem.
254 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
Shall we say that now for the first time the
Shulamite begins to catch a gleam of the
truth which the inspired poet is teaching all
readers of his song ? That she is now mount-
ing to the clear vision that will enable her to
say " Love is a fire of Jah " ?
Some students of this biblical drama would
have us believe that the constructive art of the
Hebrew author is so crude that at the close of
each act he anticipates the conclusion. This
we do not believe, but rather that by her trials
she learns to walk with God, and that He
walks with her as He did with his tried ser-
vant Job. No more making adjuration by her
earthly pets, or admired creatures of freedom,
she now refers the burden of her thoughts and
feelings to the Holy One. As the intent of
the author of the Book of Job is to conduct
his hero through earthly calamities, through
the utmost temptations of Satan, through all
clouds and darkness of the flesh and the
spirit, through the mist and twilight of human
philosophy, that he may bring him to God and
see his hero even more than a Jacob made
Israel, so, through all that most tries a woman,
the singer of the Song of Songs would bring
the Shulamite where she may look up into the
face of her Heavenly Father.
May not this emancipated one have sung
words like these .-*
THE IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS. 255
" Sing unto God, sing praises to his name : extol
him that rideth upon the heavens by his name
JAH, and rejoice before him."
" God setteth the solitary in families : he bring-
eth out those which are bound with chains : but the
rebellious dwell in a dry land."
ACT V. SCENE I.
THE UNION OF THE LOVERS.
Chapter VIII. 5-7.
Twice from the persons of the drama does
the question arise, " Who is this that cometh
up out of the wilderness ? " In the first in-
stance, the exclamations of wonder are com-
pelled from the lips of citizens of Jerusalem
by the gorgeous train of King Solomon, and
his state palanquin surrounded by the famous
veterans of the wars of David. Then it was
the stately approach, amid clouds of incense,
of one who expected to win with a word. The
outlook was from Jerusalem, the occasion one
of the public pageants usual upon the appear-
ance in state of Solomon, — such, for instance,
as on the occasion of his marriage with Pha-
raoh's daughter, or his return from a pleasure
or hunting tour, or his entrance into the city
with the idea of adding another star of beauty
to the galaxy of his harem.
Now, the question is again asked, as in
other scenes of the drama, but this time the
THE UNION OF THE LOVERS. 2$ J
scenery is unmistakably Galilean. It is in
the north, in Shunem. The spectators are
shepherds or toilers of the vineyard on the
fields looking southward over the wilderness
or plain of Jezreel. These companions of
*• the beloved " of the poem descry not a glit-
tering cavalcade, nor clouds of dust amid
which flash spear and scimiter, gold and silver,
but the prominent figures are a young man
and a young woman. She leans upon him for
strength, for the journey has been long. It
is the Shulamite girl freed from her captivity
in Jerusalem. Perhaps her mother has come
also to meet her daughter.
Eagerly the happy girl, returning from exile
in a strange city, surveys the old familiar spots,
dear to her from childhood. She recognizes
the orchards, in which every tree has its asso-
ciations. The first place most redolent of
sweet associations is the witnessing tree under
which his heart was first captivated by her
beauty, and under which they plighted their
troth. Most sacred of all spots on earth to
true lovers is that one which heard the propo-
sal, which became the dawn of love's long day.
They who, under the leafy boughs of the old
home's fragrant orchard, or aisle of evergreens
in college campus, or in the forest, or by the
river side, sealed love's compact, have sweeter
258 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
associations with Nature than they whose
words of love are spoken in parlor or drawing-
room.
Did the Hebrew lovers of twenty-five cen-
turies ago carve sign or symbol on wood or
bark, or simply invoke the tree to be their wit-
ness ? To these people, who called a spring
of water " the eye " of the landscape, and in
unconscious natural poetry gave to a river
" tongue," " lips," and " mouth ; " to a moun-
tain "head," "nose," "ears," "shoulder,"
"side," "back," "ribs," "loins," and "elbow,"
a tree was even more of a living thing.
In their parables, fables, and allegories, in-
stead of the animals that talk to us and
instruct us in ^sop, the trees stand as sym-
bols of God's law in Eden, hold a convention
to decide upon having a king, and become the
emblem of the man who meditates on God's
law. In Bible language the trees " know,"
they "rejoice," they "clap their hands," they
" faint," they are " the Lord's." They become
places of dwelling and of judgment, not only
landmarks, but underneath them birth and
death, love-pledge and legal covenant, and all
the events of life and love take place.
Upon the apple-tree the Shulamite casts
her eyes in welcome and delight, as memory
recalls the happy past.
THE UNION OF THE LOVERS. 259
" Under this apple-tree I wakened thy love " [I
won thy heart].
"There [as she passes her lover's home and
birthplace, says she] thy mother was in travail
with thee, there in travail she brought thee forth."
The final scene is introduced by verse six.
It is the v^redding. The Shulamite, safe in the
arms of him to whom her heart has been
given, having come out of temptation un-
scathed, stands before the marriage altar and
plights her troth. Jehovah has given her a
crown for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
and the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness. She takes the nuptial vow and
utters the prayer and sentiment which to-
gether make the keynote of the poem, — the
unconquerable nature and lofty inflexibility of
true love, — bidding him cherish her as one
who has been tried to the uttermost and not
found wanting.
That keynote and final strain of triumph
thus sounds :
" Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a signet
upon thine arm ; for love is as strong as death,
jealous love is as unyielding as Sheol, its flashings
are flashes of fire, the flames of Jah."
No mere Hebrew superlative is this " very
flame of the Lord," — as the Revision trans-
26o STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
lates this culminating word shalhebeth -JaJi.
Set at this dramatic climax of the drama, it
can mean nothing less than a reference of the
theme of the poet, and the subject of the
drama, to Jah Jehovah, whose glorious name
we read in the margin of Isaiah xii. 2, xxvi. 4.
This name of God, used only in poetry, is here
set at the culmination of the poem of poems
most felicitously and appropriately.
This is the divine side of love ; it has also
a human side. The image and superscription
are of Jehovah, the worth of stamp and legend
must be tested in human experience. As she
remembers the deep waters of trial and the
bribes of a king she adds :
" Many waters cannot quench love, neither can
the floods drown it. If a man were to give all the
substance of his house in place of love, it would
utterly be contemned."
The commentary and explanation of these
glowing sentiments, we have had in the whole
poem itself.
That the maiden of Shunem or the poet of
the Canticle had reached the heights of the
truth revealed in the Scriptures of the New
Covenant, which the allegorists seem to assume,
we do not believe. The full corn in the ear
does not come before the tender blade. " That
THE UNION OF THE LOVERS. 26I
is not first which is spiritual, but that which
is natural." Not in this poem do we reach the
spiritual heights marked by the Christian's
word agape, in which glows both God's love
and man's, which is deeper than sex and as
high as heaven ; but here in the Canticle is
the foregleam of the glory revealed in Christ.
Is there not inspiration in a book which gives
to a woman, first in the Old Scriptures, to
prophesy that love is of God ?
Man by his reasoning powers reaches,
woman by her feelings first discovers, truth.
Man's mental attitude and method can never
be just the same as woman's, yet the Lord
gives her too his word to publish. Truth is
not always revealed to him who gazes only in
one direction. In the story told by Herod-
otus, when all looked to the East because the
oracles had promised the sceptre and kingship
to whoever should first see the rays of the
morning sun, one gazer " looked at the op-
posite side of the heavens ; and while his com-
petitors had still before them nothing but a
sky yet buried in the shades of night, he saw
at the West the gleam of dawn that had al-
ready whitened the summit of a tower."
This one book of the Old Testament seems
as unique and strange as the man of Herodotus'
story, who to see the rising sun's raj^s looked
262 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
westward. The Shulamite, gazing at the tower
of her own experience, saw first thereon a
truth, to be fully revealed in the day of Christ.
It is noticeable also that when the Greeks of
Alexandria, long afterwards, and much nearer
the true Messiah's time, turned this marvelous
poem into prose, they expressed the term for
love which the Hebrew poet chose for use in
the refrain by the purely biblical and sacred
coinage of thought, — agape. The choice of
this precious word, so often on the lips and pens
of Paul, John, Peter, and Jude, and doubtless of
the Son of Man, shows how the seventy trans-
lators of Alexandria regarded the idea of love
as treated in the Canticle. Here, first, as Pro-
fessor Thayer shows, and occurring in no
classic Greek author, the word agape made its
appearance as a current term in this glorious
world-language, which, with all its verbal riches,
had known only those inferior terms for love
in which fleshly enjoyment was the basic idea.
De Quincey remarks that " The act of trans-
lating . . , out of a mysterious cipher . . .
into the golden light of a language the most
beautiful, the most honored among men, and
the most widely diffused through a thousand
years to come, had the immeasurable effect of
throwing into the great crucible of human
speculation, even then beginning to ferment,
THE UNION OF THE LOVERS. 263
to boil, to overflow, — that mightiest of all ele-
ments for exalting the chemistry of philoso-
phy, — grand and, for the first time, adequate
conceptions of the Deity." Without the elo-
quence of the wizard of English style, we utter
our belief that this Song of Songs, in which
it is shown, through a woman, that the foun-
tain of love is in God, bore a noble part in
preparing the world for the ideas dominant in
Christianity.
ACT V. SCENE II.
THE VIRGIN FORTRESS AND THE VINEYARDS.
Chapter VIII. 8-14.
After her passionate appeal and apostrophe
to love, the happy bride turns to the shepherd-
bridegroom and the assembled company, and
entertains them with a witty speech, in which
she recalls a promise made to her by her older
brothers ; or, possibly, a conversation overheard
by her when she was an undeveloped girl.
She then gives them a little parable about Sol-
omon, in a genuine womanly way, and in true
Oriental style.
We must remember that, in describing her-
self to the ladies of Jerusalem, in the sixth
verse of the first chapter, she apologized be-
cause her complexion was so dark and sun-
burned, explaining it by the fact that she had
been sent to work in the vineyards by the sons
of her mother, that is, her brothers. Presum-
ably, her dear father was dead, and the chil-
dren of a former marriage, her step-brothers,
were not kind to their step-sister. We also
VIRGIN FORTRESS AND VINEYARDS. 26$
heard their commands when they perhaps pre-
vented a meeting of the lovers, and bade her
go to work and catch the Httle foxes. To her
mother the Shulamite was devoted, and having
few or no young girl friends or brothers to
sympathize with her, she made her mother, as
we have seen, the repository of all her joys
and sorrows. Indeed, this tender affection of
the daughter to the mother, both in dreams
and in waking hours, is one of the striking
characteristics of the heroine, and forms a
marked feature of the cantata, so that the
most ordinary reader easily detects it. The
mother doubtless reciprocated the child's af-
fection, but the sons were severe and magis-
terial in their notions.
Although the Hebrews paid more regard to
women than many Asiatic peoples, yet the po-
sition of an unmarried female, and especially of
a step-daughter, even in an Israelite's family,
was not, from our view, a desirable one. As
matter of fact the step-brothers were severe
with her, and like many other owners of vine-
yards who harvest the revenues, but let their
hired men do the hard work, the brothers
made the step-sister keep the vineyards, hoe
and plant, trim and pick, and drive out the
foxes ; so that, as she said inguratively, " mine
own vineyard " — that is, her personal appear-
266 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
ance — "I have not kept." "Cultivating for
my brothers, I have not cultivated myself."
It is probable that these step-brothers were
in reality harsher in the treatment of their little
sister than they knew or intended to be. They
did not mean to make her miserable, but if she
was to be happy, it was to be in their way.
Perhaps they belonged to that class of persons,
not so very rare, to whom adheres the infirmity
of wanting every one to be and think and act
after their notions. Many a really kind, good,
well-meaning older brother will make his
young sister perfectly miserable, while at the
same time meaning to make her happy. He
will even cheerfully sacrifice himself to make
her wretched, while thinking to make her
happy /;/ Jiis way.
What a mistake we make when trying to ar-
range the happiness of other people on our
own cast-iron plans, and how unchristian to re-
fuse our help to others, who decline to alter
their whole life course in order to run on our
gauge !
The "little sister" is the Shulamite, and
one day, when not yet in her teens, she over-
hears their plans when they are talking about
her. Her words, now addressed on her wed-
ding day to her friends, are a playful reminis-
cence of what she once heard long ago. One
brother talks in this strain :
VIRGIN FORTRESS AND VINEYARDS. 267
"We have a sister, she is little. She is not
grown, not developed. She is not a young lady
yet. What shall we do? [not, what shall she do,
but what shall we do] in the day when she shall
be spoken for — when young men seek her com-
pany, when lovers come for her hand and heart,
when she is to enter society ? "
A second brother answers, with apparent
severity, but with real generosity and justice :
"If she be a wall," resisting all improper ad-
vances, keeping maidenly dignity, defying by
the strength of firm principle and chaste in-
stinct all improper familiarities, " then we shall
build upon her a palace of silver."
" Upon a foundation of such a character," he
would say, " we shall erect the superstructure
of our regard, and an honorable marriage, giv-
ing our approval to her choice, welcoming her
betrothed as a brother, showering our presents,
and dividing our hereditary substance gener-
ously for her dowry."
A third brother cautiously and justly, but
still severely, continues :
"But if she be as a door," — open to every
one's flirtations, and accessible to miscella-
neous attentions, and to every lover professing
so to be, — "then we shall fence her with ce-
dar boards ; " that is, marry her to a hard
crusty man, who will allow her no company,
268 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
and permit no lightness or folly; or, "we
shall sell her into a harem." Withdrawn from
all society she will be buried in a life of mo-
notony with her master.
However we may criticise the selfish form of
their deliberations, we must admire their de-
cisions.
Triumphantly, now, the maiden, no longer a
little undeveloped girl, but a woman grown,
and who doubtless profited by overhearing her
brothers' wise severity, cries out :
" I have been a wall, and my bosom is as the
tower upon it. I have withstood the flatteries and
blandishments, even of a king. Armed only with
innocence, I have resisted every assault."
"Then," after thus refusing to yield to Sol-
omon, " was I in his eyes as one that found
peace."
Ay, as in Chinese history the defeated con-
queror, leaving behind the victorious Corean
fortress, against which he had hurled his ar-
mies in vain, sent rolls of costly silk to the de-
fenders as token of his admiration ; as the hill
tribes of India, issuing from their strongholds,
tied a red cord round the wrists of the de-
feated British soldiers lying dead on the field,
to show that they regarded them as heroes ; as
the caps of the Russian officers were lifted in
VIRGIN FORTRESS AND VINEYARDS. 269
admiration when the Turkish leader at Shipka
Pass, wounded and a prisoner, entered their
camp ; as every Union soldier honored the
courage of the beaten Confederates, so in Sol-
omon's admiring eyes was this pure girl as one
who found peace, never more to be molested
even by a king. Thus by the valor of purity,
this virgin fortress, this unsoiled lily, obtained
that the king should leave her at peace. Tran-
quilly, happily, she left Jerusalem and came to
her humble home at Shunem, with the joy of a
good conscience and a heart at peace.
" Solomon," further speaks the happy bride,
in one of those riddles or enigmas in which the
Hebrews delighted, from the time of Samson to
that of Solomon, " had a vineyard at Baal-
hamon" (or is it Baal-Hermon i*). "He let
out the vineyard on shares to farmers," and so
rich was the crop, so valuable the stock, that
" every one for selling the crop must pay rent
in a thousand pieces of silver."
" O Solomon, keep thy thousand shekels, and
give two hundred to the keepers of the fruit."
Let him and them keep their wealth, " my
vineyard, my own, is before me." I own my-
self. What I had, my beauty and my purity,
the king, with all his vineyards, could not
buy.
No longer made the keeper for others, she
270 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
dwells in the gardens of requited love and de-
sired affections.
Now, for the first time in the drama, the be-
loved comes publicly upon the scene and his
own voice is directly heard. Heretofore he
has been addressed, described, remembered,
dreamed about, made participant in the scenes
of thought and imagination, but so far has had,
to the reader of this grand love poem, only sub-
jective existence in the pure mind of the
maiden. Now, as lover crowned and happy
husband, he appears on the scene in objective
reality. Yet even then, all his thoughts are
directed towards his bride. In her shadow he
lives, and appearing only for a moment van-
ishes upon the mountains of spices.
" O thou that dwellest in the gardens, the com-
panions are listening to thy voice, let me also hear
it."
He asks here for more than the song which
she has been singing for the festal wedding
company. He craves, now that she is with him,
a sweet word that assures him that her whole
love and heart are forever his.
Will she yield too easily, even to the one
whom her soul loveth ? A sweet innocent co-
quettishness is a maidenly charm. A modest
winsomeness, tempered with just enough spirit
VIRGIN FORTRESS AND VINEYARDS. 27 1
to moderate the would-be victor's conceit, is
better for both lover and maid. We cannot
conceive even of Eve engaging too readily to
become Adam's wife, nor Rebecca becoming
Isaac's bride without giving him something to
wonder about. No man can utterly fathom a
woman's ways. It is good that he cannot
Take away all mystery, eliminate every ele-
ment of unexpectedness from a woman, you
make her a machine which none but a wooden
man loves. The very impossibility of a man
finding out all about a woman is one of the in-
gredients in that " charm which Eden never
lost." Even an old, settled-down husband
ought to enjoy being occasionally " carried up
to Paradise by the stairways of surprise,"
through the element of woman's unexpected-
ness. And so, at the end of the Canticle,
though the bride yields to this, the first com-
mand, rather request, of her beloved, we note
in her what Milton pictures in our first mother
Eve :
" Implied
Subjection, but required witli gentle sway
And by her yielded, by him best received,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay."
Truly a wanton flirt is a wicked woman ; a
jilt is the devil's own daughter. A creature
who encourages attentions capriciously, and
272 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
gives her lovers hopes only to deceive and dis-
appoint, belongs to the company of Delilah,
Jezebel, and Sapphira, and will be judged of
God. Naught of this spirit belongs to the
Shulamite. Here is a woman who has refused
to encourage one whom she cannot love, yet
mildly teases the one who has won her.
Steadfast and true to one only, she is yet of
womankind, and her words have the flavor of
bitter-sweet. Here in the very hour appar-
ently of his triumph she tells him to flee, to
hasten to the mount, to " break away."
" Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like a ga-
zelle or a young hart upon the spicy mountains."
Does she mean to say, "No longer are we di-
vided by the mount of separation, not now with
their valleys that keep us far apart, not as
when a prisoner in Jerusalem I looked upon
the range upon range of dividing hills, home,
heart, love-sick, but be thou upon the moun-
tain of spices. Enjoy thou thy life henceforth
in the fragrance of my love. I am your gar-
den " }
Does she mean this .'* Shall we leave the
lovers happy in the joy of their union, in the
fond faith and rapture of hope that reality will
be equal to anticipation }
Or will love, that came " with music in his
VIRGIN FORTRESS AND VINEYARDS. 2/3
feet," and tuned "young pulses to his rounde-
lay," not "turn proser when he comes and
stays " ?
What does it mean, that, in the supreme
moment of happy love, this Shulamite — the
most womanly to our thinking of all the
women of the Bible — answers her beloved in
language which cannot possibly mean " come,"
but which unmistakably says " flee" ?
Who can tell ? What commentator explain ?
Does not the poet intend here an enigma ?
Does not even inspiration picture the course
of true love as never running smooth, and hint-
ing that whether affectionate courtship be with
ease or with stress, its forecast, however bright,
may fail of its fulfillment in happy marriage ?
Does it not compel the searching of heart
which asks whether the elements of love-mak-
ing are the same as those of a true marriage ?
Must not one, even on attaining the heart's im-
mediate desire, mount even yet higher the
mountains of fragrant endeavor ?
Do not these last words of the poet, put in
the mouth of the Shulamite, propound the
possibility that winning a maiden to marriage
is not the end of either right ambition or holy
guile in holding and developing that love which
is a spark of the Eternal? Does it not suggest
that the mountains of spices have yet greater
274 STUDIES AND COMMENTS.
heights to be won, even until passionate love
be transformed into purest friendship, when
sex and its charms are lost in the heavenly
glories of spiritual love ? And thus, abruptly
closing, does not this loftiest strain of Hebrew
poetry teach that earthly love, though of the
purest, cannot satisfy the soul, and that noth-
ing can do this but God ?
These questions may be answered us in eter-
nity, when in the presence of the Lover of
man we shall see our Beloved as He is, and
find in our Christ the eternal satisfaction of
the soul.
"JAH JEHOVAH IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG;
AND HE IS BECOME MY SALVATION."
"TRUST YE IN JEHOVAH FOREVER, FOR IN JAH
JEHOVAH IS THE ROCK OF AGES."
RELIGIOUS BOOKS
ALLEN.
The Continuity of Christian Thought. A Study of
Modern Theology in the Light of its History. By Prof.
A. V. G. Allen. New Edition. i2mo, gilt top, $2.00.
A fresh and striking survey of the whole course of Christian speculation.
British Quarterly Review (London).
AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS.
Biographies of Men who have influenced Reh'gious
Thought and Life in the United States. Each volume,
uniform i6mo. gilt top, $1.25.
Jonathan Edwards. By Professor A. V. G. Allen.
Wilbur Fisk. By Professor George Prentice, of Wesleyan Uni-
versity.
William Augustus Muhlenberg. By Rev. W. W. Newton.
Francis Wayland. By Professor J. O. Murray, of Pr.nceton.
Charles Hodge. By President Francis L. Patton, of Princeton.
Archbishop John Hughes. By John G. Shea, LL. D.
Theodore Parker. By John Fiske.
BUSH.
The Evidence of Faith. By James S. Bush. Crown
Svo, gilt top, $2.00.
A book of discourses emphasizing the breadth and
spuituality of the Christian faith.
CLARKE.
Ten Great Religions. Part I. An Essay in Com-
parative Theology. By James Freeman Clarke. Crown
8vo, gilt top, $2.00 ; half calf, $3.25.
Ten Great Religions. Part IL Comparison of all
Religions. By Ja.mes Freeman Clarke. Crown Svo,
gilt top, $2.00; half calf, $3. 25.
Nothing has come to our knowledge which furnishes evidence of such
voluminous reading, such thorough study and research, and such masterly
grasp of the real elements of these religions as does the volume before us.
James Freeman Clarke has accomplished a work here of solid worth. —
Missionary Review (Princeton).
Common Sense in Religion. By James Freeman
Clarke. i2mo, $2.00.
DIM AN
The Theistic Argument as affected by Recent Theo-
ries. By Prof. J. Lewis Diman. Edited by Prof. George
P. Fisher, of Yale College. Crown Svo, 52,00.
These lectures are planted in the very centre of all tliat is richest, no-
blest, and most important in human speculation. They trace these move-
ments with the hand of a master strong in himself, and yet stronger in the
possession of a profound familiarity with the thoughts o'^ those who have
had the most influence on human opinion. — IndepencUnt (New York).
Orations and Essays, with selected Parish Sermons.
With Memorial Address by Prof. J. O. Murray. A Me-
morial Volume. With etched Portrait. Crown 8vo, gilt
top, $2.50.
EDITORS OF ANDOVER REVIEW.
Progressive Orthodoxy. A Contribution to the Chris-
tian Interpretation of Christian Doctrines. By the Edi-
tors OF THE Andover REVIEW, Professors in Andover
Theological Seminary. i6mo, $1.00.
This book contains the most authoritative exposition of what is called
the " New Theology," and those who wish to know what amount of defi-
niteness and indefiniteness there is in the new departure can find it most
fully set forth here. . . . This book is one which must go into the library
of every intelligent Christian minister. — Christian Advocate (New York).
FISKE.
The Unseen World, and other Essays. By John
FiSKE. i2mo, gilt top, $2.00
The Destiny of Man. By John Fiske. i6mo, gilt
top, $1.00.
The Idea of God as Affected by Modern Knowledge.
By John Fiske. i6mo, gilt top, $1.00.
None are leading us more surely or rapidly to the full truth than men,
like the author of this little book, who reverently study the works of God
for the lessons which He would teach his children. — Christian Union
(New York).
GLADDEN.
The Lord's Prayer. By Rev. Washington Glad-
den. i6mo, gilt top, $1.00.
Applied Christianity. Moral Aspects of Social Ques-
tions. By Rev. Washington Gladden. i6mo, gilt top,
$1.25.
GUNSAULUS.
The Transfiguration of Christ. By Rev. Frank
Wakeley Gunsaulus. i6mo, gilt top, $1.25.
From beginning to end it is an elevated march of thought. Its pathway
is on a high spiritual plane. There is real tonic in its atmosphere. Every
page is suggestive. — Christian Union (New York).
HERRICK.
Some Heretics of Yesterday. By Rev. S. E. Her-
RICK. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
Some Heretics of Yestejidw — (co»//>iueti).
Contents : Tauler and the Mystics, Wiclif, Hus, Sa-
vonarola, Latimer, Cranmer, Melancthon, Knox, Calvin,
Coligny, William Brewster, Wesley.
ffC^GNES.
The Manliness of Chiist. By Thomas Hughes.
i6mo, gilt top, $1.00 ; paper, 25 cents.
HUNGERFORD.
The American Book of Church Services, with Selec-
tions for Responsive Reading, and full Orders of Service
for the Celebration of Matrimony, and for Funerals and
other occasional Ministrations ; also an ample list of Se-
lections of Sacred Music, with references for the Guidance
of Pastors and Choristers. Compiled by Rev. Edward
HuNGERFORD. i6mo, $1.25, net.
KING.
Christianity and Humanity. Sermons. By Rev.
Thomas Starr King. Edited, with Memoir, by Edwin
P. Whipple. With Portrait. New Edition. i2mo, gilt
top, $1 50.
MOUNTFORD.
Euthanasy ; or, Happy Talks towards the End of
Life. By William Mountford. New Edition. Crown
8vo, gilt top, $2.00.
MULFORD.
The Republic of God. An Institute of Theology.
By Rev. Elisha Mulford. 8vo, $2.00.
This is a unique work, and devotes to the great topics of theology a kind
of thinking of which we have had Httle in English literature and need
much. — The Indefiendeitt (New York).
The most important contribution to theological literature thus far made
by any American writer. — Tlie Churchman (New York).
MUNGER.
On the Threshold. Lectures to Young People. By
Rev. T. T, Munger. i6mo, gilt top, $r.oo.
The Freedom of Faith. A volume of Sermons, with
an Essay on " The New Theology." By Rev. T. T. Mon-
ger. i6mo, gilt top, $1.50.
The prefatory essay certainly contains the fullest and clearest statement
— indeed, the only very definite statement — of what the " new theology "
is, with which we have ever met. Mr. Munger has made a valuable con-
tribution towards blowing away the mists which hitherto have veiled the
development of the views which he holds This volume is most fas-
cinating. — The Congregationalist (Boston).
Lamps and Paths. By Rev. T. T. Munger. Ser-
mons to Children. New Edition, enlarged. i6mo, gilt
top, $i.oo.
The Appeal to Life. Sermons. By Rev. T. T. Hun-
ger. i6mo, gilt top, $1.50.
FAJ?KS.
His Star in the East. A Study in the Early Aryan
Religions. By Rev. Leighton Parks. i2mo, gilt top,
$1.50.
History of the Sacred Scriptures of the New Testa-
ment. By Eduard Wilhelm Eugen Reuss. Translated
from the latest German Edition. With Bibliographical
Additions, by Rev. Edv^ard L. Houghton. In two vol-
umes, Svo, $5.00.
After examining Reuss's " History of the New Testament " with some
care, I am gratified to be able to commend the translation most heartily.
Of the original work no scholar can fail to think well. . . . Mr. Houchton
has been patient and careful in his work, and the bibliographical additions
he has made, though necessarily of a selected character, constitute a new
excellence. ^ Prof. M. B. Riddle, Hartford Theological School.
7^0 VCE.
The Rehgious Aspect of Philosophy. By Prof. Jo-
siAH RoYCE, of Harvard University. i2mo, gilt top, $2.00.
IVE/J^.
The Way : the Nature and Means of Revelation.
By Prof. John F. Weir, of Yale College. Crown Svo,
gilt top, $1.75.
Ancient Cities, from the Dawn to the Daylight. By
Rev. William Burnet Wright. i6mo, gilt top, $1.25.
The World to Come. Sermons, with a Lecture on
Christmas. i6mo, $1.25.
No one can read a single sermon without having impressed upon him the
reality and nearness of things which the eye sees not. — The Congrega-
tiotuilist (Boston).
*#* For sale by all Booksellers. Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt 0/ price
by the Publishers,
Houghton, Mifflin a7id Company,
^ Park Street, Boston; 11 East 17th St., New Yoik.
Date Due
Sat 6 "%
1
hT; 2 0 '4
^
V
0'^'^^— t:^
*■ '
^,.«<.*^*«^
fmmsm^-
9
ir
'J-
uH
BS1485 .G852
The lily among thorns; a study of the
limil""'°" ^''^°'°9":ai Semmary-Speer Library
1 1012 00012 4240