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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 7:14 - 7:14
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She laid hold on him and kissed him, both of which actions were shameless, and then, assuming the passivity and modesty befitting the woman, and disregarding morality and the law, she said to the youth:
14 “To bring peace-offerings was binding upon me,
To-day have I redeemed my vows.
15 Therefore am I come out to meet thee,
To seek thy face, and have found thee.”
We have translated זִבְחֵי שְׁלָמִים “peace-offerings,” proceeding on the principle that שֶׁלֶם (sing. only Amo 5:22, and on the Phoenician altar at Marseilles) denotes contracting friendship with one (from שָׁלַם, to hold friendly relationship), and then the gifts having this in view; for the idea of this kind of offering is the attestation and confirmation of communion with God. But in view of the derivatives שַׁלְמֹנִים and שִׁלּוּם, it is perhaps more appropriate to combine שֶׁלֶם with שִׁלֵּם, to discharge perfectly, and to translate it thank-payment-offering, or with v. Hofmann, a due-offering, where not directly thank-offering; for the proper eucharistic offering, which is the expression of thanks on a particular occasion, is removed from the species of the Shelamim by the addition of the words עַל־תּוֹדָה (Lev 7:12-25). The characteristic of the Shelamim is the division of the flesh of the sacrifice between Jahve and His priests on the one side, and the person (or persons) bringing it on the other side: only one part of the flesh of the sacrifice was Jahve's, consumed by fire (Lev 3:16); the priests received one part; those who brought the offering received back another part as it were from the altar of God, that they might eat it with holy joy along with their household. So here the adulteress says that there was binding upon her, in consequence of a vow she had taken, the duty of presenting peace-offerings, or offerings that were due; to-day (she reckons the day in the sense of the dies civilis from night to night) she has performed her duties, and the שַׁלְמֵי נֶדֶר have yielded much to her that she might therewith regale him, her true lover; for with עַל־כֵּן she means to say that even the prospect of the gay festival which she can prepare for him moved her thus to meet him. This address of the woman affords us a glimpse into the history of the customs of those times. The Shelamim meals degenerated in the same manner as our Kirmsen.
(Note: Kirmse = anniversary of the dedication of a church, village fête.)
Secularization lies doubly near to merrymaking when the law sanctions this, and it can conceal itself behind the mask of piety. Regarding שִׁחַר, a more exact word for בִּקֵּשׁ, vid., at Pro 1:28. To seek the countenance of one is equivalent to to seek his person, himself, but yet not without reference to the wished-for look [aspectus] of the person.