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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Song of Solomon 6:10 - 6:10
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10 Who is this that looketh forth like the morning-red,
Beautiful as the moon, pure as the sun,
Terrible as a battle-host?
The question, “Who is this?” is the same as at Son 3:6. There, it refers to her who was brought to the king; here, it refers to her who moves in that which is his as her own. There, the “this” is followed by עֹלָה appositionally; here, by הַנִּשְׁ looking forth determ., and thus more closely connected with it; but then indeterm., and thus apposit. predicates follow. The verb שָׁקַף signifies to bend forward, to overhang; whence the Hiph. הִשְׁקִיף and Niph. שָׁקַף, to look out, since in doing so one bends forward (vid., under Psa 14:2). The lxx here translates it by ἐκκύπτουσα, the Venet. by παρακύπτουσα, both of which signify to look toward something with the head inclined forward. The point of comparison is, the rising up from the background: Shulamith breaks through the shades of the garden-grove like the morning-red, the morning dawn; or, also: she comes nearer and nearer, as the morning-red rises behind the mountains, and then fills always the more widely the whole horizon. The Venet. translates ὡς ἑωσφόρος; but the morning star is not שַׁחַר, but בֶּן־שַׁחַר, Isa 14:12; shahhar, properly, the morning-dawn, means, in Heb., not only this, like the Arab. shaḥar, but rather, like the Arab. fajr, the morning-red, - i.e., the red tinge of the morning mist. From the morning-red the description proceeds to the moon, yet visible in the morning sky, before the sun has risen. It is usually called יָרֵחַ, as being yellow; but here it is called לְבָנָה, as being white; as also the sun, which here is spoken of as having risen (Jdg 5:31), is designated not by the word שֶׁמֶשׁ, as the unwearied (Psa 19:6, Psa 19:6), but, on account of the intensity of its warming light (Psa 19:7), is called חַמָּה. These, in the language of poetry, are favourite names of the moon and the sun, because already the primitive meaning of the two other names had disappeared from common use; but with these, definite attributive ideas are immediately connected. Shulamith appears like the morning-red, which breaks through the darkness; beautiful, like the silver moon, which in soft still majesty shines in the heavens (Job 31:26); pure (vid., regarding בַּר, בָּרוּר in this signification: smooth, bright, pure under Isa.Isa 49:2) as the sun, whose light (cf. טָהוֹר with the Aram. מיהֲרָא, mid-day brightness) is the purest of the pure, imposing as war-hosts with their standards (vid., Son 6:4). The answer of her who was drawing near, to this exclamation, sounds homely and childlike: