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).
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]
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]
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]
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]
The names of God are apparently substituted with similar sounding phrases depicting 'female gazelles' (צְבָא֔וֹת, tseḇā’ōṯ) for [God of] hosts (צבאותtseḇā’ōṯ), and 'does of the field'/'wild does/female deer' (אילות השדה, ’ay-lōṯ ha-śā-ḏeh) for God Almighty (אל שדי, ’êlshaddai).[18]
"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]
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]
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)[edit]
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]
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 (inSong 1:1, 3, three times in 3:6–11 and two times in this chapter: 8:10–12).[30]
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.[b][33]
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]
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]
"Make haste": "hurry", lit. "flee",[36] from Hebrew: ברח, bə-rakh,[37]
^Since 1947 the current text of Aleppo Codex is missing Song of Songs 3:11, after the word ציון ("Zion"), to the end.[7]
^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]
^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.
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
