Глава 7

1. A short conversation between the Shulamite and the women of Jerusalem. 2–10a. Solomon once again enthusiastically praises his beloved. 10b-14. The Shulamite firmly, without any hesitation, professes her sincere love for her friend and her undivided affection for him. Song 7:1. “Look around, look around, Shulamite! look around, look around, and we will look at you.” Why should you look at the Shulamite as at the round dance of Manaim? In this verse and only here the bride of the Song of Songs is named after her place of birth Shulamite, LXX: Σουναμιτις – nomen gentilicum from the name Sunem Heb. Shunem or Sonam - cities in the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19.18; 1 Kings 28.4; 2 Kings 4.8), the homeland of Abishag (1 Kings 1.3) and the woman benefactor of the prophet. Elisha (2 Kings 4.8); now the village of Solom is to the north. from Zeryn (Jezreel), Onomast. 690. The women of Jerusalem call the bride this name, probably expressing a hint of admiration for her beauty. Shulamita answered them modestly in the form of a mutual question, the meaning of which is: “Is a modest village girl, a resident of the humble Galilee, worth such attention? it’s not something remarkable like, for example, the round dance of Manaim.” Manaim or Mahanaim is a city on the eastern side of the Jordan in the tribe of Gad (Joshua 13.26, 30; 2 Kings 2.8, 12, 29, etc.), it is identified with the ruins of Mahneh north of Jabbok (Onomast. 668). This area owes its name to a miraculous phenomenon that once took place here - a militia of Angels seen by Patriarch Jacob ((Genesis 32.2-3). See Prof. Priest A. Glagolev. Old Testament biblical teaching about Angels. Kyiv. 1900, pp. 206, 210). LXX, Vulg. glory give a common noun meaning to the word in question: Σουναμιτις, chori castrorum, faces of the regiments. The meaning of the comparison is not entirely clear: we have no information about the round dances of Mahanaim. Only the opinion (O. Zekkler and others), who sees here a historical memory of the already mentioned heavenly angelic militia that appeared to Jacob upon his return from Mesopotamia (Gen. 32.2–3). Song 7:2. Oh, how beautiful are your feet in sandals, eminent daughter! The rounding of your hips, like a necklace, is the work of a skilled artist; Song 7:3. your belly is a round cup in which the fragrant wine does not run dry; your belly is a heap of wheat surrounded by lilies; Song 7:4. Your two breasts are like two kids of goats, the twins of a chamois; Song 7:5. your neck is like a pillar of ivory; your eyes are the lakes of Heshbon, which are at the gates of Bathrabbim; your nose is the Tower of Lebanon, facing Damascus; Song 7:6. your head is like Carmel, and the hair of your head is like purple; the king is fascinated by your curls. Song 7:7. How beautiful you are, how attractive, beloved, with your cuteness! Song 7:8. This figure of yours is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes. Song 7:9. I thought: I would climb a palm tree and grab its branches; and your breasts would be like bunches of grapes, and your nostrils would smell like apples; Song 7:10. your lips are like fine wine. The image of the bride’s beauty given here generally resembles two previous descriptions of her: Song. 4:1–7, 6:4–10. But it differs from them in its predominant sensual character (the description starts from the bottom - from the legs and hips); with the abundance of the most daring comparisons here in a purely Eastern spirit (vv. 2–6), the realism of the picture reaches the highest degree and even goes beyond all measure (vv. 9). Art. 3–4, sn. Song 4:4–5. In Art. 5 Heshbon and Batrabbim are synonyms. The name of Heshbon (Numbers 21.26; Deut. 1.4 and others. Onomast 454) was called the capital of the Amorites, and then the Moabites, under Joshua assigned to the tribe of Gad (Joshua 13.26), now Hesban southwest of Amman. Batrabbim (in Kennik. code. 77) or Bath-rabbim, in LXX: θνγατρος πολλων, slav., “daughters of many,” Vulg: filiae multitu dinis, indicates the large population of Heshbon. Damascus is the main city of Syria (Isaiah 7.8), conquered by David (2 Samuel 8.6), now Dimashk-esh-Sham (Onomast. 378). According to the explanation of Prof. Olesnitsky, the chapter in question and, in general, the section of Songs 6.4 - Songs 8.4 represents “the autumn song of the promised land, now overflowing with fully ripened fruits and politically strengthened (annual seasons are opposed here by periods of Jewish history, as recognized by the Targum and Midrash). Palestine is covered with herds of goats as thickly as a man's head with hair; her ripe pomegranate apples glow like a girl’s cheeks; her winepresses are full of the best ready-made wine, etc. Especially here is the comparison of the bride with the palm tree, with its autumn fruits, which we did not notice in the previous songs... With this natural wealth and greatness, Palestine is strong politically: beautiful and strong cities flaunt on it, for example: Jerusalem, Tirzah, the Damascus fortress, its battle regiments perform harmoniously, like round dances (Song 8.1 to LXX). The image of a fruitful palm tree, serving as an indicator of the wealth of ripened earthly fruits, at the same time denotes the high importance of Palestine as a political unit; in this meaning the palm tree appears between the images of the Jerusalem temple” (pp. 376–377). Song 7:10. It flows straight to my friend, delighting the lips of the weary. Song 7:11. I belong to my friend, and his desire is addressed to me. Song 7:12. Come, my beloved, let's go out into the field, let's stay in the villages; Song 7:13. In the morning we will go to the vineyards, see if the vines have blossomed, if the buds have opened, if the pomegranate apples have blossomed; there I will show you my caresses. Song 7:14. The mandrakes have already given off their incense, and at our doors are all kinds of excellent fruits, new and old: I have saved this for you, my beloved! In response to the magnificent and sometimes immoderate praise of the bride’s perfections, she hastily and impulsively declares that she, with all her virtues and perfections, belongs entirely to her friend (vv. 10b-11), whom she now persistently calls to the bosom of nature to enjoy its beauties and works (vv. 12-14). At the same time, the incense poured in the garden by mandrakes - these “apples of love” - symbolizes the strength and vitality of her love for her friend (v. 14a), and her wise care for him and her worldly experience are evidenced by the abundance and variety of beautiful fruits she saved for him (14b). Mandrake, Heb. dudaim, - a plant known in the ancient and modern east, Atropa Mandragora or Mandragora vernalis from the Belladonna breed, with small pale green and reddish flowers on a trunk up to 1 meter in size; in May or June, small yellow, strong-smelling apples appear on it, which, according to Pliny, were used as food by the Arabs, although they had a hypnotic effect. The ancient and modern East, classical antiquity and all the Middle Ages and modern times attributed to mandrakes the magical power of artificially arousing sexual love and also fertilizing hitherto barren marriages. This belief forms the basis of the story Genesis 30.14–16. In the mouth of the innocent Shulamite, this mention of mandrakes (as well as fruits) is a simple symbol of true love, the power of which she then (Song 8.6–7) inimitably depicts. You might be interested in: