DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM.
8 If thou knowest not, O fairest among women,
Go in the footsteps of the flocks,
And feed thy kids
By the tents of the shepherds.
SOLOMON.
9 To my steed in the chariot of Pharaoh
Do I compare thee, O my love.
Gesenius, like one fainting; but this
incurs the same objection. The explanation
of Philippson would have
been the most plausible, if Rashbam
and the anonymous MS. had not
shown that [HE: `oTah] itself means to roam,
to wander, by referring to Isa. xxii. 17,
where, according to its parallel, [HE: Tv.l], to cast down, it must signify to roll about.
This meaning bests suits the context
here, and is confirmed by Symach.,
Vulg., Syriac, Chald.
8. If thou knowest not. The court ladies, hearing the rustic girl say that she wished to be with her shepherd, tell her ironically to go, and be employed in the low and toilsome occupation of a shepherdess, rather than enjoy the exalted and easy life of a royal favourite. Some have put this answer into the mouth of the beloved; but it is evident from v. 9, and vi. 1, the only two places where the appellation "fairest of women" occurs, that it is the reply of the court ladies, which even Döpke, Good and Noyes, the defenders of the fragmentary theory, admit. Nothing can be more plain and incontrovertible than the statement in this verse, that the damsel is a shepherdess, and the beloved a shepherd, whom, she is told, she would find among his fellow-shepherds. It is for those who maintain the theory that this Song celebrates the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of Pharaoh, or some other prince's daughter, to get over this fact. [HE: lO' yodo`] is unnecessarily and incorrectly rendered by Ewald, Meier, Hitzig, &c., unwise. The Sept., which is followed by Luther, mistaking the usage of [HE: lod^e], translates this clause [GR: e)a\n mê\ gnô|=n seautê/n], as if the original were [HE: 'im/ lO' tEd^e`iy 'et nip^eS/ek/o]. The prepo. [HE: b.] in [HE: b.anoS/iym/] gives to [HE: hay.opoh] the force of the superlative. Besides the several modes of expressing the superlative adduced by Gesenius, § 119, 2, this degree is sometimes also expressed by the positive and the prepo. [HE: b] prefixed to the noun designating the class to which the person or thing compared belongs: thus [HE: 'al^epiy had.al b.im^enaS/eh], my family is the weakest in Manasseh, Judg. xvi. 5; Prov. xxx. 30, comp. also [GR: eu)logême/nê su e)n gynaixi/n], thou art the most blessed of women, Luke i. 28, Ewald, § 313 c.
9. To my steed, &c. The court-ladies having turned from her and told her to go back to her menial employment, her severest trial begins. The king, having watched his opportunity, enters at that moment, and thus begins his flattering address. He first praises her beauty and gracefulness by comparing her to his stately and noble chariot steed. The anonymous MS. commentary rightly remarks, [HE: mvsb lm`l S'mrh SHvrh 'nv vhv' 'mr lh dmytyk/ lsvsty brkby pr`h Shm/ SHvrym/ vsvs hSHvr yph hv' yvtr mS'r svsym/], that this simile was suggested by the reference which the damsel has made in the preceding verse to her dark complexion. The king, therefore, compares her to his noble steed, whose dark colour renders it more beautiful than the other horses. Such a comparison must have been very striking and flattering in the East, where this animal was so much celebrated for its preeminent beauty. "A young chestnut mare," says Layard, Nine-
