Song of Solomon
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a Grace Notes course Song of Solomon From Commentary on the Old Testament C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch adapted for Grace Notes training by Warren Doud Grace Notes Web Site: http://www.gracenotes.info E-mail: [email protected] Song of Solomon - Keil and Delitzsch Contents The Translator’s Preface ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction to the Song of Solomon ............................................................................................................................ 4 Song of Solomon 1 ....................................................................................................................................................... 13 Song of Solomon 2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 27 Song of Solomon 3 ....................................................................................................................................................... 37 Song of Solomon 4 ....................................................................................................................................................... 45 Song of Solomon 5 ....................................................................................................................................................... 57 Song of Solomon 6 ....................................................................................................................................................... 68 Song of Solomon 7 ....................................................................................................................................................... 75 Song of Solomon 8 ....................................................................................................................................................... 87 Appendix .................................................................................................................................................................... 101 The Authors Carl Friedrich Keil (26 February 1807 – 5 May 1888) was a conservative German Lutheran Old Testament commentator. He was born at Lauterbach near Oelsnitz, Kingdom of Saxony, and died at Rätz, Saxony. Franz Delitzsch (Leipzig, February 23, 1813 – Leipzig, March 4, 1890) was a German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Born in Leipzig, he held the professorship of theology at the University of Rostock from 1846 to 1850, at the University of Erlangen until 1867, and after that at the University of Leipzig until his death. Delitzsch wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible, Jewish antiquities, biblical psychology, a history of Jewish poetry, and Christian apologetics. Grace Notes Grace Notes is a Bible study ministry which began in 1994 using the Internet to distribute lessons and articles to people who are interested in God's Word. Thousands of Christians, in more than 110 countries around the world, have received Grace Notes lessons on the Internet, by E-mail and the World Wide Web. All courses and materials are distributed free of charge, and the work is supported by believers who want to see the ministry continue and grow. Grace Notes studies are also distributed on diskette and CD-ROM in order to reach those who do not have Internet access. Verse-by-verse (expositional) courses are available in 50 books of the Bible. Some of the courses include word studies (categorical doctrine) or historical articles (isagogics) that are relevant to the passages being discussed. Other courses offered are Bible character studies, comprehensive studies of the Christian Life and Basics of the Christian Life, an extensive series on the Person and Word of Jesus Christ, and a thorough study of the Attributes of God. You are invited to write to the address below, or write by e-mail, to inquire about Grace Notes materials. Warren Doud, Director 1705 Aggie Lane, Austin, Texas 78757 E-Mail: [email protected] Web Site: http://www.gracenotes.info SONG OF SOLOMON Page 4 By C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch a Grace Notes study Song of Solomon I cannot send forth this volume without expressing the deep obligation I am under to The Translator’s Preface Dr. Delitzsch for his kindness in forwarding to me various important corrections and additions The volume now offered to students of the which I have incorporated in the translation, Bible completes the Keil and Delitzsch series of and for valuable suggestions with reference to Commentaries on the Old Testament. Like those it. This English edition may, from these which have preceded, it is intended exclusively circumstances, be almost regarded as a second for theological students and scholars, with edition of the original. I have done my best to whom it cannot but gain a welcome reception, verify the references, and to present a faithful as a most important contribution to the right rendering of the original, and in such a form as interpretation of those difficult portions of the to allow the author to express himself in his sacred canon, whether the reader may agree own way, without violating the idiomatic with the conclusions of the learned author or structure of the language. not. At the end of the original volume there are Abbreviations added three dissertations by Wetzstein. But as The abbreviations and technical forms common the commentary is in itself complete without to such critical works as this have been those, they have been omitted with Dr. retained. These require no explanation. The Delitzsch’s concurrence. I content myself by colon (:) has been used, as in the original, to merely indicating here their import. In the first introduce a translation or a quotation. In the of them, Wetzstein aims at showing that the text criticisms, the following abbreviations have —:Song 4:3; 6:7, signify the slice been used ,פֶּלַ חהָרִ ֹּמון words (Spalt, Ritz) of a pomegranate = the inner F. = Cod. Francofurtensis of 1294, described by surface of a sliced pomegranate. In the second, Delitzsch in his Preface to Baer’s edition of the he argues that the Dudaim plant, Song 7:13, is Psalter of 1861 and 1874. not the mandragora vernalis of botanists, but H. = Cod. Heidenheimii, a MS. the mandr. autumnalis, which begins to bud and blossom, as is the case with most of the J. = Cod. Jamanensis, which was brought from Palestinian flora, about the time of the first South Arabia by Jacob Sappir, and passed into winter rains in the month of November. The Baer’s possession. Vid., Delitzsch’s Preface to Baer’s edition of Isaiah, 1872. :he accordingly translates ,־ריח … הד׳ ,passage P. = Cod. Petropolitanus of the year 1010, now “Already the mandragora apples give forth their in St. Petersburg. Vid., Pinner’s Prospectus, pp. fragrance,” i.e., are already ripe; because it is 81–88. only the ripe apples that are fragrant. In the third dissertation, on Eccles. 12:5, he seeks to D. = A parchment MS of the Song placed at Delitzsch’s disposal by Baer. by ויסתבל … החגב establish the translation of E, E, E, E = The four Erfurt Manuscripts. “And the almond tree flourisheth, and the locusts creep forth, and the wretched life is Introduction to the Song of Solomon brought to dissolution.” The first two of these clauses, he holds, denote the season of the year The Song is the most obscure book of the Old [the beginning of the meteorological spring. Testament. Whatever principle of The seven days from 25th February to 3rd interpretation one may adopt, there always March are called the eijam el-’agaiz, i.e., the remains a number of inexplicable passages, and (seven death-) days for old people], in which just such as, if we understood them, would help that which is said in the third (the death of the to solve the mystery. And yet the interpretation old man) takes place. of a book presupposes from the beginning that SONG OF SOLOMON Page 5 By C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch a Grace Notes study the interpreter has mastered the idea of the Perluigi de Palestrina gained by his twenty-nine whole. It has thus become an ungrateful task; motettoes on the Song (1584) the honoured for however successful the interpreter may be name of Principe della Musica. In modern times in the separate parts, yet he will be thanked for this allegorico-mystical interpretation is his work only when the conception as a whole represented in the department of exegesis which he has decided upon is approved of. (Hengst.), sermon (F. W. Krummacher), and It is a love-poem. But why such a minne -song in poetry (Gustav Jahn), as well as of music the canon? This question gave rise in the first (Neukomm’s duet: Er und sie), and even of century, in the Jewish schools, to doubts as to painting (Ludw. von Maydell). the canonicity of the book. Yet they firmly If the Song is to be understood allegorically, maintained it; for they presupposed that it was then Shulamith is the personification of the a spiritual and not a secular love-poem. They congregation of Israel, and mediately of the interpreted it allegorically. The Targum church. All other interpretations fall below this. paraphrases it as a picture of the history of Hug (1813) understands by the “beloved” the Israel from the Exodus to the coming of the kingdom of the ten tribes longing after a Messiah. The