Song of Songs 6 (abbreviated [where?]asSong 6) is the sixth chapter of the Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the ChristianBible.[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 a dialogue between the daughters of Jerusalem and the woman about the man, followed by the man's descriptive poem of the woman, ending with a collective call to the woman to return.[4]
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.[13]
This could be related to Ecclesiastes 2:5, 6 where Solomon says, "I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit; I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared."[14]Franz Delitzsch suggests that she locates him in the garden because this is where he is inclined to spend his time, "where he delights most to tarry".[15]
Verse 3
editA text from Song 6:3 in Dutch (English: "Feedeth among the lilies"), on a house in Leiden, the Netherlands.
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.[16]
This descriptive poem by the man still belongs to a long section concerning the desire and love in the country which continues until 8:4,[19] and partly parallel to the one in chapter 4.[4] The man's waṣf and the other ones (4:1-8; 5:10-16; 7:1-9) theologically demonstrate the heart of the Song that values the body as not evil but good even worthy of praise, and respects the body with an appreciative focus (rather than lurid).[20] Hess notes that this reflects 'the fundamental value of God's creation as good and the human body as a key part of that creation, whether at the beginning (Genesis 1:26–28) or redeemed in the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:42, 44)'.[20]
Tirzah: the capital of the Kingdom of Northern Israel in the late 10th and early 9th BCE; likely identified with Tell el-Farah North.[22]
"My love" (or "my [female] friend"; Hebrew: רעיתי, ra‘-yā-ṯî[23]) a specific term of endearment used by the man for the woman that is used 9 times in the book (Song 1:9, 15; 2:2,10, 13; 4:1,7; 5:2; 6:4).[24][25] The masculine form of the same root word to call the man ("my [male] friend"; Hebrew: רעי, rê-‘î[26])[b] is used in a parallel construction with "my beloved" (Hebrew: דודי, ḏōḏî[26]) in Song 5:16.[24]
The woman's voice in this part contains ambiguity in the meaning of some words, that poses difficulty in assigning it to either of the main speakers (NIV assigns this part to the man).[28]
Verse 11
editFrench tapestry with the text of Song 6:11 in Latin (English: "I went down into the garden of nuts"). Palais du Tau, Reims, Hauteville, Aisne (17th century).
I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded.[29]
Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.[31]
"Amminadib": or "my noble people".[32] The Septuagint and Vulgate, as in the King James Bible refer this last part of the verse to an individual named Amminadib (or variant spelling "Aminadab").[33] K. Froehlich notes that "Amminadab's chariot" was interpreted as a four-horse chariot or quadriga during the Middle Ages, and considered 'a cipher for the fourfold meaning and interpretation of Scripture'.[34]
This verse does not indicate clearly who the speaker is, but there must be either multiple persons concerned in it or a quotation, because 'there is an evident interchange of question and answer'.[12]
"Shulammite": The name for the bride which only occurs here in the whole book, but 'it cannot be a proper name, otherwise even in the vocative there would be no article, as there is here', so it can be interpreted as 'maiden of Shulam' (cf. the Shunammite, 1 Kings 1:3).[12] It could be how the courtiers call her, not knowing her true name, so they use 'the name of the village near which they were when they saw her'.[12]
"A dance before two armies" (KJV: "the company of two armies"): or "dance of Mahanaim".[36]
^Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On "Song of Solomon 6". In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890, accessed 24 April 2019.
^Froehlich, K. "Amminadab's Chariot: The Predicament of Biblical Interpretation," Princeton Seminary Bulletin 18 (1997): 262-78, apud Longman 2001, p. 185
Bergant, Dianne (2001). Cotter, David W.; Walsh, Jerome T.; Franke, Chris (eds.). The Songs of Songs. Berit Olam (The Everlasting Covenant): Studies In Hebrew Narrative And Poetry. Liturgical Press. ISBN9780814650691.
Brenner, Athalya (2007). "21. The Song of Solomon". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 429–433. ISBN978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
Longman, Tremper (2001). Songs of Songs. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Vol. 26. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN9780802825438.
Song of Solomon public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions