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1–7. The king's praise for his newlywed. 8–15. The king's confession of his feelings for her and new praise for her. 16. The bride's response. Song 4:1. Oh, you are beautiful, my beloved, you are beautiful! your dove eyes under your curls; your hair is like a flock of goats coming down from Mount Gilead; Song 4:2. your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep coming out of the pool, each of them having a pair of lambs, and not one barren among them; Song 4:3. your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your lips are kind; your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate under your curls; Song 4:4. your neck is like a pillar of David, built for weapons; a thousand shields hang on it - all the shields of the mighty; Song 4:5. Your two breasts are like the twins of a young chamois grazing among the lilies. Song 4:6. While the day breathes coolness and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense. To depict the beauty of the bride, the sacred poet combines into one image numerous and varied features and touches of nature, the latter decisively prevailing over purely human features and are by no means puncta comparandi, but rather belong to the image of the bride, as is especially clear from Art. 12–15, where the strokes of nature, without the mediation of a comparative particle, are directly represented as predicates of the bride. Here, as in other parts of the book, the view of Prof. is justified. Olesnitsky that the center of gravity of the content of the Song of Songs lies not in the depiction of the human personality and its figure, but in the depiction of Palestinian nature in the biblical period, a period of abundance of natural goods and the development of material and spiritual culture in the promised land. “If hitherto the promised land was depicted only in its relationship to the sun and in still unclear features, now, during the period of its full summer flowering, it is described for itself, and, moreover, in undisguised features. The beauty of the bride depicted here lies in the herds of goats of the best breed of Gilead, in the herds of prolific sheep, in the gardens of pomegranate trees and all kinds of fragrant shrubs, and the springs of living waters flowing from the mountains that have now received a special charm; the bride breathes honey and milk and is fragrant with the fragrance of Lebanon and the smell of fields blessed by God, adds midrash (IV, 11) based on Gen. 27:27 "(Prof. Olesnitsky, p. 373). This is the general meaning and this is the general content of the chapter (IV) under consideration. Further, certain expressions require explanation, especially in places that were not entirely clear to the ancient translators of the book, and therefore were conveyed far differently in different translations. “Your eyes are doves” (v. 1), more precisely from the Hebrew: your eyes are doves, - an expression that literally repeats the earlier Song 1.14. But here with it there is a new definition - Heb. mibbaad letsammatekh, repeated (in a slightly different combination) two more times st. 3 of this chapter and art. Chapter 7 VIth. This expression was already incomprehensible to LXX, who conveyed it in all three places with a dark and vague expression: ' εκτος της σιωπησεως σον, glory. “except for your silence.” This place is conveyed equally vaguely in the Vulgate: absque eo, quod intrinsecus latet (Song 4.1, 3) or: absque occultis tuis (Song 6.7). Thus, both the LXX and the Vulgate convey a metaphorical meaning to the passage in question, but express it too unclearly. The Midrash (s. 103) considers the word mibbaad to be Arabic, corresponding to the Hebrew. the verb arakh to go, but this word production does not give a specific meaning; moreover, it is closer to look for analogies to the word tsamma in Khald. for ladies or tsamtsam to cover. Therefore, the Russian Synodal Council is not entirely successful either. translation: “under your curls.” It is more correct to understand tsamma in the sense of “veil”, “veil”, which is the meaning of this word, undoubtedly, in Isaiah 47.2, and translate the entire expression from Archim. Macarius: “from under your veil.” The hair of the bride is compared (v. 1) to a herd of goats on Mount Gilead. Gilead (cf. Onomast. 318) in the Bible refers to the entire country east of the Jordan, from the stream Arnon to the southern slopes of Hermon (Deut. 34.1; Josh. 22.9, 13, 15; Judges 20.1), as well as, more specifically, the mountainous area from Yarmouk to the heights of Heshbon, in contrast to the plain of Bashan (Joshua 17.1, 5; 2 Kings 10.33); in a narrow sense, individual mountain ranges were called Gilead, for example, Gen. 31.21, like the current ones: Jebel Jil'ad, south of Jabbok, Jewel Ajlun, etc. Gilead in general and especially the mountainous part of it were suitable for cattle breeding, and there was always a lot of cattle here (Numbers 32.1; Jer 50.19; Micah 7.14). There were also plenty of goats here. Comparing the hair to a herd of goats is intended to highlight its black, shiny color and silky softness. On the contrary, the whiteness of the teeth (v. 2) is explained by a comparison with a wave of white (cf. Isa 1.18) and smoothly shorn and previously washed sheep. Under the tower or pillar of David, with which the bride’s neck is probably compared, in terms of slenderness and smoothness (v. 4), is, of course, a tower intended to be a kind of arsenal and built by David somewhere on the Hill of Zion. The purpose of the tower is indicated in Hebrew. in the word letalliyot. LXX did not understand the meaning of this word and left it without translation: εις θλπιωθ; Vulg.: cum propugnaculis. But still r. Kimhi pointed out the relationship of the second part of this Heb. words from the mouth, plur. piyot, the edge of the sword (cf. Proverbs 5.4; Judges 3.16); If the first part of the word is brought closer to the verb tala to hang, then it will be quite possible to accept the translation of Archimandrite. Macarius: “the pillar of David, built for hanging weapons.” Words of Art. 6 are completely parallel to Song 2.17 and represent, as it were, the groom’s response to the bride’s proposal expressed there. Song 4:7. You are all beautiful, my beloved, and there is no spot on you! The verse constitutes the conclusion of the first half of the chapter and contains a summary of the praises hitherto expressed for the bride’s perfections: here she appears free from any defect or vice and full of all perfections. This image of the bride was reflected in that presented by St. apostle in the image of the perfection of the Church (Eph 5.27), and in church liturgical use, as already mentioned, it was transferred to the purest image of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Song 4:8. With me from Lebanon, bride! come with me from Lebanon! hurry from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards! Inspired by love for the bride, the groom urgently calls her to him “from Lebanon, from the peaks of Amana, Senir and Hermon - from the dens of lions and leopards” (v. 8), that is, to leave the wild and majestic mountain heights close to her homeland - the city of Sonam and strive to live a single life with him. The mountains named in Art. 8, represent separate mountain ranges in the mountain range of Hermon (or Aermon) and Lebanon, Hermon being the Hebrew name corresponding to the Phoenician-Canaanite Senir (Deut. 3.9; Onomast. 30). The word Haman in the LXX is given a common noun meaning: απο αρχης της πιστεως, slav. “from the beginning of faith”, which, according to prof. Olesnitsky, is justified by the legend recorded in the book of Enoch that the first believers in humanity lived on the mountains of Lebanon (p. 47). Song 4:9. You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride! You have captivated my heart with one look from your eyes, with one necklace around your neck. Song 4:10. Oh, how kind are your caresses, my sister, my bride! Oh, how much your caresses are better than wine, and the fragrance of your ointments is better than all aromas! Song 4:11. Honeycomb drips from your lips, bride; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your clothes is like the fragrance of Lebanon! They depict the enthusiastic impression that the bride made on the groom - the king with her attractive appearance, and even more, of course, with her spiritual virtues (to article 10 cf. Song 1.1). Moreover, the special closeness of the beloved to the beloved is expressed not only by the name bride (vv. 8, 11), but also double: “my sister, bride” (vv. 9, 10, 12). According to the Midrash (IV, 10-11), Israel is called a bride ten times in Scripture: six times in the Song of Songs, and four times in the prophets, namely: three times in Isaiah (Is. 49:18, 61:10, 62:5), and once in Jeremiah (Jer. 7.34), - according to the number of the Ten Commandments; and this bride dresses up in 24 ornaments, named in Isaiah (Isaiah 3.18–28) - according to the number of the sacred books of the Old Testament (s. 123–124). Characteristics of the bride in Art. 11, as abounding in honey and milk, itself recalls the biblical description of the Holy Land or Palestine as a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3.17, etc.). About the fragrance of Lebanon cf. OS 14.7. Song 4:12. A locked garden is my sister, my bride, a closed well, a sealed spring: Song 4:13. your nurseries are a garden with pomegranates, with excellent fruits, keeper with backgammon, Song 4:14. spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon with all kinds of fragrant trees, myrrh and scarlet with all the best aromas; Song 4:15. garden spring - a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon. Now the groom begins to talk about the bride in the third person, but praises her with greater generosity. The meaning of the names: “locked garden”, “prisoned well”, “sealed source” is clear from the analogy of Proverbs 5.15–18, where the source is a symbol of conjugal love and affection of the wife, which is used only by her husband and not a single stranger; therefore, these names characterize the unconditional purity, purity and chastity of the bride. At the same time, as further verses 13–15 show, these expressions also mean fertility in general (cf. Is 58.11), in the spiritual sense - the abundance of the bride’s virtues. In Art. The 13th garden in the original text is called pardes, a word found only 3 times in the Old Testament (also Eccl. 2.5; Neh. 2.8). This word probably comes from the Sanskrit pairidaeza, preserved in Greek. παραδεισος, paradise; actually; fenced area, park, etc. Song 4:16. Rise the wind from the north and blow from the south, blow over my garden, and its fragrances will flow! “Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its sweet fruits.” Verse of the words of the bride who hastens to prepare her garden for the reception of her friend: the north and south winds (Vulg.: Aquilo, Auster) are invited everywhere to disperse the fragrances of the bride’s garden, so that her glory will attract all nations (cf. Ps 44.14-17). In a spiritual, moral and psychological sense, “this is an image of a holy soul devoted to God. Blessed gifts, like fragrant flowers, adorn her; but they do not reveal their power to others before the Spirit, which “breathes wherever it wills,” blows on the spiritual sky (John 3.8). When He pleases, a blessed soul emits fragrances - it gives life and delights others; when you don’t want it, it is a heliport, and no one knows what treasures are hidden in it” (“Sunday Reading,” vol. V (1841–42), p. 160). You might be interested in: