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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Song of Solomon 5:11 - 5:11
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11 His head is precious fine gold,
His locks hill upon hill,
Black as the raven.
The word-connection פָּז כֶּתֶם, occurring only here, serves as a designation of the very finest pure gold; for כֶּתֶם (hiding, then that which is hidden), from כתם, R. כת (vid., concerning the words appertaining to this root, under Psa 87:6), is the name of fine gold, which was guarded as a jewel (cf. Pro 25:12), and פָּז (with long ā), is pure gold freed from inferior metals, from פָּזַז, to set free, and generally violently to free (cf. zahav muphaz, 1Ki 10:18, with zahav tahor, 2Ch 9:17). The Targ. to the Hagiog. translate פז by אוֹבְרִיזָא (e.g., Psa 119:127), or אוֹבְרִיזִין (e.g., Psa 19:11), ὄβρυζον, i.e., gold which has stood the fire-proof (obrussa) of the cupel or the crucible. Grammatically regarded, the word-connection kethem paz is not genit., like kethem ophir, but appositional, like narrah bethulah, Deu 22:28, zevahim shelamim, Exo 24:5, etc. The point of comparison is the imposing nobility of the fine form and noble carriage of his head. In the description of the locks of his hair the lxx render תלתלים by ἐλάται, Jerome by sicut elatae palmarum, like the young twigs, the young shoots of the palm. Ewald regards it as a harder parall. form of זַלְזִלִּים, Isa 18:5, vine-branches; and Hitzig compares the Thousand and One Nights, iii. 180, where the loose hair of a maiden is likened to twisted clusters of grapes. The possibility of this meaning is indisputable, although (Arab.) taltalat, a drinking-vessel made of the inner bark of palm-branches, is named, not from taltalah, as the name of the palm-branch, but from taltala, to shake down, viz., in the throat. The palm-branch, or the vine-branch, would be named from תַּלְתֵּל, pendulum esse, to hang loosely and with a wavering motion, the freq. of תָּלָה, pendere. The Syr. also think on תלה, for it translates “spread out,” i.e., a waving downward; and the Venet., which translates by ἀπαιωρήματα. The point of comparison would be the freshness and flexibility of the abundant long hair of the head, in contrast to motionless close-lying smoothness. One may think of Jupiter, who, when he shakes his head, moves heaven and earth. But, as against this, we have the fact: (1) That the language has other names for palm-branches and vine-branches; the former are called in the Son 7:9, sansinnim. (2) That תלתלים, immediately referred to the hair, but not in the sense of “hanging locks” (Böttch.), is still in use in the post-bibl. Heb. (vid., under Son 5:2); the Targ. also, in translating דְּגוּרִין דִּגוֹרִין, cumuli cumuli, thinks תלתלים = תִּלִּין תִּלִּין, Menachoth 29b. A hill is called תֵל, (Arab.) tall, from טָלַל, prosternere, to throw along, as of earth thrown out, sand, or rubbish; and תַּלְתַּל, after the form גַּלְגַּל, in use probably only in the plur., is a hilly country which rises like steps, or presents an undulating appearance. Seen fro his neck upwards, his hair forms in undulating lines, hill upon hill. In colour, these locks of hair are black as a raven, which bears the Semitic name עוֹרֵב from its blackness (עָרַב), but in India is called kârava from its croaking. The raven-blackness of the hair contrasts with the whiteness and redness of the countenance, which shines forth as from a dark ground, from a black border. The eyes are next described.