Song of Songs 8
French tapestry with the text of Song 8:6 in Latin: "Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum" (English: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart"). Palais du Tau, Reims, Hauteville, Aisne (17th century).
BookSong of Songs
CategoryKetuvim
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part22

Song of Songs 8 (abbreviated as Song 8) is the eighth (and the final) chapter of the Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.[1][2] This book is one of the Five Megillot, a collection of short books, together with Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, within the Ketuvim, the third and the last part of the Hebrew Bible.[3] Jewish tradition views Solomon as the author of this book (although this is now largely disputed), and this attribution influences the acceptance of this book as a canonical text.[3]

This chapter contains dialogues between the woman and the daughters of Jerusalem, the woman and her brothers, then finally, the woman and the man,[4] the "bride" and the "bridegroom".[5]

Text

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 14 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Codex Leningradensis (1008).[6][lower-alpha 1]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[8]

Structure

The Modern English Version (MEV) identifies the speakers in this chapter as:

Kugler and Hartin treat verses 5 onwards as an appendix.[9] The Jerusalem Bible treats verse 7b onwards (from Were a man to offer all the wealth of his house to buy love ...) as "appendices".[10]

Female: Springtime and love (8:1–4)

This female passage is the last part of a long section concerning the desire and love in the country which runs from chapter 6 until verse 4 here.[11] It consists probably or possibly of more than a single song, describing the woman's wish that her lover to be her brother, so that they can be together in her 'mother's house' (verses 1–2; cf. Song 3:4); they embrace (verse 3; cf. Song 2:6) and another appeal to the daughters of Jerusalem (verse 4).[4]

Verse 1

Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.[12]

For "like my brother", or "as my brother" in the King James Version,[13] the International Standard Version notes that the Hebrew text lacks the preposition "like".[14] Andrew Harper argues that the word 'as' "should probably be omitted, as the accidental repetition of the last letter of the preceding word".[5]

Verse 4

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
do not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.[15]

The names of God are apparently substituted with similar sounding phrases depicting 'female gazelles' (צְבָא֔וֹת, tseḇā’ōṯ) for [God of] hosts (צבאות tseḇā’ōṯ), and 'does of the field'/'wild does/female deer' (אילות השדה, ’ay-lōṯ ha-śā-ḏeh) for God Almighty (אל שדי, ’êl shaddai).[18]

Chorus: Search for the couple (8:5a)

Verse 5 opens the last section or epilogue of the book, speaking about the power of love which continues to verse 14 (the end of the book).[11]

Verse 5

[Friends of the Woman]

Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?

[The Woman]

Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.[19]
  • "Who is that coming up from the wilderness": a reprise of Song 3:6.[20]
  • "Your mother": this is the only time the man's mother is mentioned, whereas the woman's mother is mentioned in five places (Song 1:6; 3:4, 6:9; 8:1,2), and one mention of Solomon's mother (Song 3:11).[21][22]

Female: The power of love (8:5b-7)

There are two fragments of the female voice in this part (verse 5; cf. 3:6–12, 2:3) and verses 6-7 containing her declaration of love which 'might have constituted a suitable end for the whole book'.[4]

Verse 6

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its fires of desire are as ardent flames,
a most intense flame.[23]

Brothers: Their younger sister (8:8-9)

These two verses form a part describing how the woman's maternal brothers decide to keep their sister's virginity, when necessary. [4] However, they do that in disparaging way, which recalls their maligning attitude in chapter 1.[28]

Female: Her defense; Solomon's vineyard (8:10–12)

As a response, the woman answers her brothers mockingly.[4] When in Song 1:5–6 she "ineffectually complained" about her brothers' antagonism towards her, here she can stand up for herself and has found her peace.[28]

Verse 12

A full-color photograph of the word כרמי in the Leningrad Codex, Song of Songs 8:12, showing that the vowel under the first letter is patah and not qamaz.
My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
  • "My vineyard": the emphatic Hebrew expression כרמי, kar-mî (from kerem for "vineyard"),[29] as the first word of this verse, is to provide contrast to Solomon’s large possession and yet beyond his reach.[5]
  • "Solomon": one of the seven times this name is mentioned in the whole book (in Song 1:1, 3, three times in 3:6–11 and two times in this chapter: 8:10–12).[30]

Male: Listening (8:13)

No doubt that this part contains the words of the man addressing the bride that 'it is delightful to him to hear her voice'.[31]

Verse 13

You who dwell in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice—
Let me hear it![32]

The man (or the bridegroom) calls upon his bride (the Shulammite) to let his companions, that is 'his friends who may have come to congratulate him on his bride's safe return', hear her voice.[5]

In the community of Sephardic and Oriental Jews, the congregation in traditional synagogues goes back and recites verse 13 after reciting verse 14 to avoid ending a reading in a negative note.[lower-alpha 2][33]

Female: Departure (8:14)

The very last verse: the woman's voice calls to her male lover to run, like a gazelle or deer, to “the distant nevernever land of the perfume hills”. With that, ‘the love's game can begin afresh, suspended in timelessness and moving cyclically’.[4]

Verse 14

Make haste, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle or a young stag
on the mountains of spices![34]

This verse is almost identical to Song 2:17 and just like in the situation of the earlier verse, it implies another meeting and prolongs "indefinitely the moment of young and love".[35]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Since 1947 the current text of Aleppo Codex is missing Song of Songs 3:11, after the word ציון ("Zion"), to the end.[7]
  2. ↑ This practice is similar to the custom of ending the reading of the book of Lamentations on the Fast of Ab, by repeating verse 5:21 after reading the last verse of the book, 5:22.[33]

References

  1. ↑ Halley 1965, p. 279.
  2. ↑ Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  3. 1 2 Brenner 2007, p. 429.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brenner 2007, p. 431.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Harper, A. (1902), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. "Song of Solomon 8", accessed 28 April 2019.
  6. ↑ Würthwein 1995, pp. 36–37.
  7. ↑ P. W. Skehan (2003), "BIBLE (TEXTS)", New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 355–362
  8. ↑ Würthwein 1995, pp. 73–74.
  9. ↑ Kugler, Robert A.; Hartin, Patrick (2009), The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-4636-5
  10. ↑ Jerusalem Bible (1966), Song of Songs 8:7b-14
  11. 1 2 Hess 2005, p. 36.
  12. ↑ Song of Songs 8:1: New King James Version
  13. ↑ Song of Songs 8:1: King James Version
  14. ↑ Song of Songs 8:1: International Standard Version
  15. ↑ Song 8:4 MEV
  16. ↑ Coogan 2007, p. 961 Hebrew Bible.
  17. ↑ Note [a] on Song 2:7 in NKJV
  18. ↑ Bergant 2001, p. 26.
  19. ↑ Song 8:5 MEV
  20. ↑ Coogan 2007, p. 967 Hebrew Bible.
  21. ↑ Bergant 2001, p. 16.
  22. ↑ Exum 2005, p. 141.
  23. ↑ Song 8:6 MEV
  24. ↑ Note [a] on Song of Solomon 8:6 in NKJV
  25. 1 2 Hebrew Text Analysis: Song of Solomon 8:6. Biblehub
  26. ↑ Note [b] on Song of Solomon 8:6 in NKJV
  27. ↑ Note [c] on Song of Solomon 8:6 in NKJV
  28. 1 2 Assis 2009, p. 248.
  29. ↑ Song 8:12 Hebrew text analysis. Biblehub
  30. ↑ Longman 2001, pp. 88, 132.
  31. ↑ Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On "Song of Solomon 8". In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.
  32. ↑ Song 8:13 NKJV
  33. 1 2 Assis 2009, p. 259.
  34. ↑ Song 8:14 MEV
  35. ↑ Bloch & Bloch 1995, pp. 18–19.
  36. ↑ Note [a] on Song of Solomon 8:14 in NKJV
  37. ↑ Hebrew Text Analysis: Song of Solomon 8:14. Biblehub

Sources

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