Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Song of Solomon 3:11 - 3:11

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Song of Solomon 3:11 - 3:11


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

At the close of the scene, the call now goes forth to the daughters of Zion, i.e., the women of Jerusalem collectively, to behold the king, who now shows himself to the object of his love and to the jubilant crowd, as the festal procession approaches.

11 Come out, yet daughters of Zion, and see

King Solomon with the crown

With which his mother crowned him

On the day of his espousal,

And on the day of the gladness of his heart.

The women of the court, as distinguished from the Galilean maiden, are called “daughters of Jerusalem;” here, generally, the women of Zion or Jerusalem (Lam 5:11) are called “daughters of Zion.” Instead of צֶאנָה (since the verb Lamed Aleph is treated after the manner of verbs Lamed He, cf. Jer 50:20; Eze 23:49), צְאֶינָה, and that defect. צְאֶנָה,

(Note: Without the Jod after Aleph in the older ed. Thus also in J and H with the note לית וחסר [= nonnisi h. l. et defective] agreeing with the MS Masora Parna. Thus also Kimchi, Michlol 108b.)

is used for the sake of assonance with וּרְאֶינָה;

(Note: The Resh has in H Chatef-Pathach, with Metheg preceding. This, according to Ben-Asher's rule, is correct (cf. Psa 28:9. וּֽרֲ). In the punctuation of the Aleph with Tsere or Segol the Codd. vary, according to the different views of the punctuation. J has Segol; D H, Tsere, which latter also Kimchi, Michlol 109a.)

elsewhere also, as we have shown at Isa 22:13, an unusual form is used for the sake of the sound. It is seen from the Sota (ix. 14) that the old custom for the bridegroom to wear a “crown” was abolished in consequence of the awful war with Vespasian. Rightly Epstein, against Grätz, shows from Job 31:36; Isa 28:1; Psa 103:4, that men also crowned themselves. בּעֲטָרָה (with the crown) is, according to the best authorities, without the art., and does not require it, since it is determined by the relat. clause following. חֲתֻנָה is the marriage (the word also used in the post-bibl. Heb., and interchanging with חֻפָּה, properly νυμφών, Mat 9:15), from the verb חָתַן, which, proceeding from the root-idea of cutting into (Arab. khatn, to circumcise; R. חת .R ;, whence חָתַךְ, חָתַם, חָתַר), denotes the pressing into, or going into, another family; חָתַן is he who enters into such a relation of affinity, and חָטַן the father of her who is taken away, who also on his part is related to the husband.

(Note: L. Geiger (Ursprung der Sprache, 1869, p. 88) erroneously finds in R. חת (חתם, etc.) the meaning of binding. The (Arab.) noun Khatan means first a married man, and then any relation on the side of the wife (Lane); the fundamental idea must be the same as that of Khatn, circumcidere (cf. Exo 4:25), viz., that of penetrating, which חָתַת, percellere, and נָחַת, descendere (cf. e.g., ferrum descendit haud alte in corpus, in Livy, and Pro 17:1), also exhibit.)

Here also the seduction fable is shattered. The marriage with Shulamith takes place with the joyful consent of the queen-mother. In order to set aside this fatal circumstance, the “crown” is referred back to the time when Solomon was married to Pharaoh's daughter. Cogitandus est Salomo, says Heiligst., qui cum Sulamitha pompa sollemni Hierosolyma redit, eadem corona nuptiali ornatus, qua quum filiam regis Aegyptiorum uxorem duxeret ornatus erat. But was he then so poor or niggardly as to require to bring forth this old crown? and so basely regardless of his legitimate wife, of equal rank with himself, as to wound her by placing this crown on his head in honour of a rival? No; at the time when this youthful love-history occurred, Pharaoh's daughter was not yet married. The mention of his mother points us to the commencement of his reign. His head is not adorned with a crown which had already been worn, but with a fresh garland which his mother wreathed around the head of her youthful son. The men have already welcomed the procession from afar; but the king in his wedding attire has special attractions for the women - they are here called upon to observe the moment when the happy pair welcome one another.