Song of Solomon 6:11

Song of Solomon 6:11 . I went down — When I went away from thee. These are the words of the bridegroom; to see the fruits of the valley — Which, being low, and well watered, is very fruitful. To see, &c. — What beginnings or appearances there were of good fruits or works among believers.

(11-13) I went down into the garden . . . —For a discussion on this obscure passage in its entirety, see Excursus III. (11) Nuts.—Heb. egôz; only here. (Comp. Arabic ghaus = the walnut, which is at present extensively cultivated in Palestine.) Fruits.—Heb. ebi=green shoots; LXX. ἐν γεννήμαι. Valley.—Heb. nachal; LXX., literally, χειμάρρου, the torrent-bed. It is the Hebrew equivalent of the Arabic wady. Here the LXX. insert, “There I will give thee my breasts”; reading, as in Song i, 2, dadaï (breasts) for dôdaï (caresses). (12) Or ever I was aware.—Marg., I knew not; Heb. Lo yadahti, which is used adverbially (Psalm 35:8), “at unawares.” (Comp. Proverbs 5:6; Jeremiah 50:24.) The LXX. read, “my spirit did not know.” Made me like . . .—Marg., set me on the chariots; but literally, according to the present Hebrew text, set me chariots, &c. Ammi-nadib.—Marg., of my willing people, as though the reading were ammî hanadib, since the article ought to be present after a noun with suffix. For ammî = my fellow citizens, comp. Genesis 23:11; Lamentations 2:11. A better interpretation, instead of taking the yod as the suffix my, treats it as an old genitival ending, and renders, companions of a prince. But this does not make the passage more intelligible. (13) O Shulamite.—Heb. hashulammît. This vocative, with the article, indicates a Gentile name rather than a proper name (Ges., § 108, Eng. Trans.), and no doubt the LXX., ἡ ἐρχομένη, “the Shunamite”—that is, maiden of Shunem—is correct

. Shunem was discovered by Robinson in Sôlam, a village on the declivity at the western end of Little Hermon (Dûhy), and which answers to all the requirements of Shunem in 1Samuel 28:4, 2Kings 4:8 (comp. Joshua 19:18), and with a slight correction as to distance with the Sulem which Eusebius (Onomasticon) and Jerome identify with Sunem. For the interchange of n and l, comp. Zerin—Jezreel; Beitun = Bethel; lachats = nachats, to burn. The fact that Abishag was a Shunamite, and that Adonijah sought her in marriage (1Kings 1:3), has given rise to the conjecture that these two are the heroine and hero of this poem. From a comparison with Song of Solomon 8:10, “then was I in his eyes as one that found favour” (Heb. shalôm, peace), arises the untenable theory that Shulamite is a feminine of Solomon = the graceful one: untenable, because the feminine of Shelomah would be Shelomît. As it were the company of two armies.—Marg., of Mahanaim; LXX., “she coming like dances of the camps;” Vulg., “unless dances of camps;” Heb. khimcholath hammachanaim. Mecholath is fem, of machol, which (see Smith’s Bib. Dict., under “Dance”) is supposed to be properly a musical instrument of percussion. The LXX. generally translate, as here, χορός; but in Psalm 32:11 (Hebrews 10:12) χαρά,, joy; Jeremiah 31:4; Jeremiah 31:14, συναγωγή, assembly. In Psalm 149:3, cliv. 4, the Margin suggests pipe instead of dance; and many scholars derive it from chal = to bore (comp. chalil, a flute). (See Bible Educator, Vol

The bride's words may be paraphrased: "You speak of me as a glorious beauty; I was lately but a simple maiden engaged in rustic toils. I went down one day into the walnut-garden" (the walnut abounded on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, and is still common in Northern Palestine) "to inspect the young plants of the vale" (i. e., the wady, or watercourse, with now verdant banks in the early spring after the rainy season), "and to watch the budding and blossoming of vine and pomegranate." Compare Sol 2:11-13 notes. "Then, suddenly, ere I was myself aware, my soul" (the love-bound heart) "had made me the chariot of a lordly people" (i. e., an exalted personage, one who resides on the high places of the earth; compare 2 Kings 2:12 ; 2 Kings 13:14 , where Elijah and Elisha, as the spiritual leaders of the nation, are "the chariot and horsemen of Israel," compare also Isaiah 22:18 ). This last clause is another instance of the love for military similitudes in the writer of the Song. Ammi-nadib - literally, my people a noble one. The reference is either to Israel at large as a wealthy and dominant nation, under Solomon, or to the bride's people (the Shulamites) in particular, to the chief place among whom, by her union with the king, she is now exalted.

I went down, to wit, when I went away from thee. So this is an account of the reason of his former departure from her. Or, I am come down to visit thee, my garden , Song of Solomon 4:12 . Either way these are the words of the Bridegroom. Into the garden of nuts; in which nuts and other fruits are planted. By nuts may be meant, either, 1. Ordinary nuts; and so this is supposed to intimate the mean and contemptible condition of the church in her outward estate, and that her sweetness is all inward and spiritual. Or, 2. Aromatical nuts, to wit, nutmegs; and so this notes how acceptable the church and her productions are to Christ. The valley; which being low, and well watered, is most fruitful. To see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded; what beginnings or appearances there were of good fruits or works among believers; whether their practices answered their professions.

11. The bride's words; for she everywhere is the narrator, and often soliloquizes, which He never does. The first garden (So 2:11-13) was that of spring, full of flowers and grapes not yet ripe; the second, autumn, with spices (which are always connected with the person of Jesus Christ), and nothing unripe (So 4:13, &c.). The third here, of "nuts," from the previous autumn; the end of winter, and verge of spring; the Church in the upper room (Ac 1:13, &c.), when one dispensation was just closed, the other not yet begun; the hard shell of the old needing to be broken, and its inner sweet kernel extracted [Origen] (Lu 24:27, 32); waiting for the Holy Ghost to usher in spiritual spring. The walnut is meant, with a bitter outer husk, a hard shell, and sweet kernel. So the Word is distasteful to the careless; when awakened, the sinner finds the letter hard, until the Holy Ghost reveals the sweet inner spirit. fruits of the Valley—Maurer translates, "the blooming products of the river," that is, the plants growing on the margin of the river flowing through the garden. She goes to watch the first sproutings of the various plants.

11 . nuts ] Heb. ’ěghôz , a word found here only in the O.T., Arab. gawz , Syr. gauzo , Pers. djaus , dialectically aghuz . Probably it is borrowed from the Persian, like pardçs . It is properly the walnut , which is a native of Persia; Tristram, Nat. Hist . p. 413. It is largely cultivated in N. Palestine. the fruits of the valley ] Rather, the green plants of the valley, as in R.V. The A.V. has followed the LXX and the Targum, probably, in translating the word for green plants by fruits . But cp. Job 8:12 , where the word is used of the rush, “while it is yet in its greenness .” to see whether … the pomegranates buaded ] R.V. were in flower . 11–13 . The bride speaks here. According to Oettli, the words of the court ladies were spoken on the fatal day when Solomon first saw her. This carries her back to that time, and ignoring Solomon’s pleadings and flatteries, as she always does, she recalls what she was doing then. Translate accordingly, I had gone down , &c. Delitzsch regards the words as an account of what she has just been doing, and as revealing her modest acceptance of her unexpected elevation, and her delight still in simple country pleasures. This would seem to be Budde’s view also. In accepting that view Budde admits once more that the poem, as we have it, has dramatic movement and connexion.