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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Song of Solomon 7:7 - 7:7
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When Solomon now looks on the wife of his youth, she stands before him like a palm tree with its splendid leaf-branches, which the Arabians call ucht insân (the sisters of men); and like a vine which climbs up on the wall of the house, and therefore is an emblem of the housewife, Psa 128:3.
7 Thy stature is like the palm tree;
And thy breasts clusters.
8 I thought: I will climb the palm,
Grasp its branches;
And thy breasts shall be to me
As clusters of the vine,
And the breath of thy nose like apples,
Shulamith stands before him. As he surveys her from head to foot, he finds her stature like the stature of a slender, tall date-palm, and her breasts like the clusters of sweet fruit, into which, in due season its blossoms are ripened. That קוֹמָתַךְ (thy stature) is not thought of as height apart from the person, but as along with the person (cf. Eze 13:18), scarcely needs to be remarked. The palm derives its name, tāmār, from its slender stem rising upwards (vid., under Isa 17:9; Isa 61:6). This name is specially given to the Phoenix dactylifera, which is indigenous from Egypt to India, and which is principally cultivated (vid., under Gen 14:7), the female flowers of which, set in panicles, develope into large clusters of juicy sweet fruit. These dark-brown or golden-yellow clusters, which crown the summit of the stem and impart a wonderful beauty to the appearance of the palm, especially when seen in the evening twilight, are here called אַשְׁוֹכלוֹת (connecting form at Deu 32:32), as by the Arabians 'ithkal, plur. 'ithakyl (botri dactylorum). The perf. דּמְתָה signifies aequata est = aequa est; for דָּמָה, R. דם, means, to make or to become plain, smooth, even. The perf. אָמַרְתִּי, on the other hand, will be meant retrospectively. As an expression of that which he just now purposed to do, it would be useless; and thus to notify with emphasis anything beforehand is unnatural and contrary to good taste and custom. But looking back, he can say that in view of this august attractive beauty the one thought filled him, to secure possession of her and of the enjoyment which she promised; as one climbs (עָלָה with בְּ, as Psa 24:3) a palm tree and seizes (אָחַז, fut. אֹחֵז, and אאֱחֹז with בְּ, as at Job 23:11) its branches (סַנִסִנִּים, so called, as it appears,
(Note: Also that סנסן is perhaps equivalent to סלסל (זלזל, תלתל), to wave hither and thither, comes here to view.)
after the feather-like pointed leaves proceeding from the mid-rib on both sides), in order to break off the fulness of the sweet fruit under its leaves. As the cypress (sarwat), so also the palm is with the Moslem poets the figure of a loved one, and with the mystics, of God;
(Note: Vid., Hâfiz, ed. Brockhaus, II p. 46.)
and accordingly the idea of possession is here particularly intended. וְיִהְיוּ־נָא denotes what he then thought and aimed at. Instead of בְּתָּמָר, Son 7:9, the punctuation בַּתָּמָר is undoubtedly to be preferred. The figure of the palm tree terminates with the words, “will grasp its branches.” It was adequate in relation to stature, but less so in relation to the breasts; for dates are of a long oval form, and have a stony kernel. Therefore the figure departs from the date clusters to that of grape clusters, which are more appropriate, as they swell and become round and elastic the more they ripen. The breath of the nose, which is called אַף, from breathing hard, is that of the air breathed, going in and out through it; for, as a rule, a man breathes through his nostrils with closed mouth. Apples present themselves the more naturally for comparison, that the apple has the name תַּפּוּחַ (from נָפַח, after the form תַּמְכוּף), from the fragrance which it exhales.