a E 7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; | ver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering threescore valiant men are about it, of the of it of purple, the midst thereof being valiant of Israel. paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. 8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. 9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. 10 He made the pillars thereof of sil 11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart. 3 Or, a bed. Verse 9. "Chariot."-The original word N aperion, does not occur anywhere else, and is not, therefore, the usual word for a chariot. The description appears to suggest the idea of a portable couch, litter, or palanquin, such as those in which great persons are at this day carried about in different parts of the East. They are very various in their character and mode of use; but in general terms they may be described as couches, covered with a canopy supported by pillars at the four corners, and hung round with curtains to protect the person from the sun; and carried upon men's shoulders by means of two poles on which it is supported. They are usually long enough for the rider to recline at full length in them, and about three feet broad; but the size, height, and richness, depend of course on the rank or wealth of the owner. The number of bearers is proportioned to the weight; and, in travelling, there are two or more sets which relieve each other by turns. When however litters of this description are employed in Western Asia, they are seldom carried by men, but by two animals (usually camels or mules) one of which goes before and the other behind, between the poles. There is another kind of canopied litter, mounted on the back of a single animal (an elephant in India), on which great persons ride in state, and which, from its elevation and richness, is conspicuous from afar; but in the present instance something of the other sort is probably intended. Vehicles of this description, particularly royal ones, are sometimes of astonishing magnificence, the woodwork being covered with silver and enriched with precious stones, while the canopy is of the most costly stuffs, brocade. and satins, also adorned with jewels, and the interior fitting up of corresponding splendour. 11. "The crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals."-The use of nuptial crowns is very ancient and very general. Among the Greeks and Romans these crowns were usually chaplets of leaves and flowers and the modern Greeks retain the ancient custom, employing such chaplets, decorated with ribbons and lace. The modern Jews do not use crowns on their marriage ceremonies, and they inform us that the custom has been discontinued since the last fatal siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. The information which the Gemara, &c. give on the 729 VOL. II. 5 A subject is, that the crown of the bridegroom was of gold or silver, or else a chaplet of roses, myrtle, or olives, and that the bride's crown was of gold or silver: and they seem to state that the crowns were in the form of a tower, similar to those which are represented on the head of the heathen goddess Cybele. There is also some mention of a crown made of salt and sulphur, worn by the bridegroom; the salt being transparent as crystal, and various figures being represented thereon in sulphur. Chap. 6. 5, 6. ing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. 3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet. and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. 4 Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. 5 Thy two breasts are like two young 3 Or, that eat of, &c. 4. Chap. 7. 3. roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. 6 'Until the day 'break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. 7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. 9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; 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 spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! 5 Chap. 2. 17. 11 Thy lips, O my spouse, 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 "inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; "camphire, with spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and alocs, with all the chief spices: 15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. 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 pleasant fruits. Verse 8." Amana... Shenir... Hermon."-All these were different parts or mountains of the Lebanon chain. They have already been noticed in this work, excepting Amana, of which nothing is known. 12. "A spring shut up, a fountain sea'ed."-See the note on Eccles. ii. 6. 5A 2 731 14. "Saffron."-The original is karkom, which name the same plant also bears in Arabic and Persian. Indeed, the names xgózos and crocus, which it bore among the Greeks and Latins, and now bears with us, is nearly the same, except in the final letterm, which from similarity of form sometimes gets confounded with Ds, in the Hebrew, The crocus officinalis is well known as an ornament in our own gardens, as it was in those of Solomon; but the peculiar aroma that is found in the stigma or capital of the central pillar or thread in the flower is not always recognised. The smallness of the part causes it to be overlooked, and renders expensive the scented drug called "saffron" (from its Arabic name, zahafaran) which is obtained from it. The plant is too well known to require particular description in this place. 15. "Streams from Lebanon."-This verse receives a very appropriate illustration from our engraving in p. 730, which represents a part of the course of one of the streams from Lebanon; and which may suitably be accompanied by the following extract from Maundrell. "There is a very deep rupture in the side of Lebanon, running at least seven hours directly up into the mountain. It is on both sides exceedingly steep and high, clothed with fragrant greens from top to bottom, and every where refreshed with fountains falling down from the rocks in pleasant cascades-the ingenious work of nature. The streams all uniting at the bottom, makes a full and rapid torrent, whose agreeable murmuring is heard all over the place, and adds no small pleasure to it." (Journey,' p. 142.) CHAPTER V. 1 Christ awaketh the church with his calling. 2 The 2 I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. 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 bowels were moved for 7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. 9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? 10 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 as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. 13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as 'sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. 14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 16 10His mouth is most sweet : yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jeru salem. 1 Or, and be drunken, with loves. Or (as some read), in me. 3 Heh. passing, or, running about. • Heb. what. 8 Heb. sitting in fulness; that is, fitly placed, and set as a precious stone in the foil of a ring. 10 Heb. his palate. Verse 4. "Put in his hand by the hole of the door."-From the notice of the wooden locks used in the East, which we have given under Neh. iii. 6, the reader will understand that they may be opened with little difficulty, without the key, by means of a bit of stick, a nail, or even, by some management, with the fingers. So it would seem that the bridegroom introduced his fingers through the hole to open the lock; but failing in the attempt, perhaps because the door was also barred, he withdrew. 7. "The watchmen that went about the city."―This conveys an intimation that the Jewish towns had a regular and vigilant night police. The nature of this establishment was probably similar to those which still exist in the towns of Western Asia, the streets of which are usually patrolled at night by guards, who are much feared on account of their dexterous and ever ready use of the stout cudgels which they carry in their hands. What Mr. Lane says of Cairo is applicable to most other large towns. "None but the blind are allowed to go out at night later than about an hour and a half after sunset, without a lantern or a light of some kind. Few persons are seen in the streets later than two or three hours after sunset. At the fifth or sixth hour one might pass through the whole length of the metropolis and scarcely meet more than a dozen or twenty persons, excepting the watchmen and guards, and the porters at the gates of the bye-streets and quarters." The watchmen also challenge every approaching passenger, and expect an answer. Women are almost never seen in the streets at night. If circumstances were similar among the Hebrews, the treatment which is here described is sufficiently explained; and is what any female might expect in hurrying through the streets at night, without male servants bearing lights, and, in her fright, probably neglecting to reply to the challenge of the watchmen. CHAPTER VI. 1 The church professeth her faith in Christ. 4 Christ sheweth the graces of the church, 10 and his love towards her. WHITHER is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. 4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. 5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for 'they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. 6 Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them. 7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks. 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, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10 ¶ Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? 11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. 12 Or ever I was aware, my soul 'made me like the chariots of Amminadib. 13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies. 1 Chap. 2. 16, and 7. 10. Or, they have puffed me up. * Chap. 4. 1, 2. 4 Heb. I knew not. 5 Or, set me on the chariots of my willing people. • Or, of Mahanaim. Verse 10. "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.”—These are standing figures of the East when one would describe perfect beauty, whether in man or woman, without descending to particulars. "Moon-faced," is in Persia the common epithet expressing superlative beauty; and the poetical title usually given to the patriarch Joseph, who is regarded as the most perfect model of manly comeliness that the world ever saw, is, "Moon of Canaan" In the Mischat ul Masabih there is a chapter giving the different descriptions of Mohammed's person reported by his contemporaries. The fol lowing are among them. "Abu-Ubadiah said, I said to Rubaiyyah bint-Muawwiz, Describe his majesty to me.' She said, 'O my little son! had you seen his majesty, you would say that you had seen a sun rising.'-Jabir-bin-Samurah said, 'I saw his majesty in a moonlight night; and sometimes I looked at his beauty, and then at the moonand he was brighter and more beautiful to me than the moon.'-Abu-Hurairah said, 'I never saw any thing more beautiful than the prophet: you might say that the sun was moving in his face." (B. xxiv. ch. iii. pt. 2.) In like manner does the Arabian hero celebrate the prince of Ibla: "Never did I behold among the human race any thing like Ibla; lovelier and more beautiful than the sun and moon." Antar, vol. iv. p. 400. |