Song of Solomon 6

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Song of Solomon 6

1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.

4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.

5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

6 Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.

7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.

8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded.

12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

<html>Where has your beloved gone. The nations taunt and provoke Yisroel, “Where has your Beloved gone?” Why has He left you abandoned like a widow?¹Alternatively, where has He gone? (Gra) Where has your beloved turned. When He returned and rested His Spirit upon Coresh, and he granted permission to build the Beis Hamikdosh, and they began to build, they [the nations] came and said to them, “Where has your Beloved turned?”²Alternatively, what does He occupy Himself with now? (Gra) If He is returning to you, we will seek Him with you, as the matter is stated, “Now the adversaries of Yehudah and Binyamin heard that the people of the exile were building a Temple, etc. And they approached Zerubavel, etc., ‘Let us build with you, for, like you, we seek your God, etc.”³Ezra 4:1-2. But their intention was sinister, [and] in order to stop them from the work. And they replied—</html>

Verse 2

<html>My beloved has gone down to his garden. He commanded us to build His Temple, and He will be there with us.⁴Alternatively, He has gone to the “Garden” of Eden. (Gra) To the beds of spices. The place where the incense is burned. To graze in the gardens. And further, He has gone to graze His sheep in the gardens where they were scattered, [i.e.,] those who did not come up from the exile, He rests His Divine Presence upon them in the synagogues and in the study halls.⁵He occupies Himself by delighting in the presence of the righteous. (Gra) And to gather roses. He listens and hearkens to those who speak His Torah, to collect their merits and to inscribe them in a memorial book before Him, as the matter is stated, “Then the men who fear Adonoy spoke, etc.”⁶Malachi 3:16. And concerning your request to seek Him with us, and to build with us, “I am my Beloved’s,” but you are not His, and you shall not build with us, as the matter is stated, “It is not for you and for us to build a House for our God ,”⁷Ezra 4:3. and it states [further], “and you have no portion or right or memorial in Yerusholayim.”⁸Nechemyah 2:20. </html>

Verse 3

<html>Who grazes among the roses. Who grazes his sheep in a calm and goodly pasture.</html>

Verse 4

<html>You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirtzah. And the Holy One, Blessed Is He, praises her for this [reply, and says], “You are beautiful, My beloved,” when you are desirable⁹I.e., where you perform deeds that please me, interpreting כתרצה as כרצויה. Alternatively, תרצה is a city in Eretz Yisroel that was captured by Yehoshua [see Yehoshua 12:24]. It is renowned for its beauty. to Me. So it is expounded in Sifrei. Comely. Are you now as at first in Yerusholayim.¹⁰Which is described as “perfect in beauty’ in Tehillim 50:2. Awesome as the hosts [of angels]. Legions of angels. I will cast your awe upon them so that they should not wage war and stop you from the work, as it is stated in Ezra.¹¹5:5. </html>

Verse 5

<html>Turn your eyes away from me. Like a young man whose betrothed is dear and pleasing to him, and her eyes are comely, and he says to her, “Turn away your eyes from me, for when I see you, my heart becomes haughty and proud, and my spirit becomes arrogant, and I cannot resist.” Made me haughty. They made my heart haughty, as in, “And their pride וְרָהְבָּם is toil and pain,”¹²Tehillim 90:10. [and as in,] “They are haughty רַהַב but idle,”¹³Yeshayahu 30:7. asoajier in O.F. The allegorical meaning is as follows: The Holy One, Blessed Is He, said, “In this Beis Hamikdosh, it is impossible to restore to you the Ark, the Ark cover, and the cherubim, which excessively endeared you to Me in the first Beis Hamikdosh, to show you great affection, until you betrayed Me.” Your hair is like a flock of goats. The young, tender, and insignificant ones among you, are praiseworthy. </html>

Verse 6

<html>Your teeth. The officers and the mighty that are among you are entirely good. Like a counted flock. The ewe can entirely be utilized for holy purposes: its wool is for blue thread, its flesh for sacrifice, its horns for shofars, its thighs for flutes, its intestines for harp [strings], its hide for a drum. But the wicked [i.e., nations] were likened to dogs, for they are entirely unuseable for holy purposes. </html>

Verse 8

<html>There are sixty queens. [Referring to] Avrohom and his descendants. The sons of Keturah are sixteen. Yishmael and his sons are thirteen. Yitzchok and his sons are three. The sons of Yaakov are twelve. The sons of Eisav are sixteen. [All of the above are listed] in Divrei Hayomim¹⁴Chapter 1. , and total sixty. And if you should say that Timna¹⁵Eisav’s granddaughter. should be excluded because she is a woman, then count Avrohom in the number [of sixty]. And eighty concubines. [If you count] Noach and his sons until Avrohom, [i.e.,] all the generations of those who left the Ark, you will find them to be eighty. And just as the queens, who are the kings’ wives, are superior in greatness over the concubines, so were Avrohom and his offspring deemed greater and superior to all, as you will see. Hagar was the daughter of kings. Timna was the daughter of rulers and became Eisav’s concubine, and it states, “to the Valley of Shaveh, etc.”¹⁶Bereishis 14:17. [meaning,] they all unanimously resolved הֻשְׁווּ=שָׁוֵה and crowned Avrohom as king over them. And young maidens without number. All these were divided into many families.</html>

Verse 9

<html>But she is unique my dove. And of all of them,¹⁷All the nations mentioned in the previous verse. she¹⁸I.e., Yisroel. is My chosen one, like a perfect dove, who is wholehearted with her mate. She is unique to her mother. To her assembly.¹⁹I.e., allegorically the word לאמה is understood to mean לאומה [=nation]. Many arguments take place in the study halls, all of them stem from the desire to understand Torah in its fundamentals and according to its true meaning. She is pure to her who begot her. Yaakov saw that his bed [i.e., progeny] was perfect without any disqualification, and he thanked and praised the Omnipresent, as it is stated, “And Yisroel bowed down at the head of the of the bed.”²⁰Bereishis 47:31. He bowed in gratitude that all his children were righteous. Daughters saw her. [Other nations saw] Yisroel in her greatness. And acclaimed her. And what is their praise?</html>

Verse 10

<html>Who is this that gazes down. Upon us, [looking] from a high place to a low place is called “הַשְׁקָפָה.” So is the Beis Hamikdosh higher than all lands.²¹See Maseches Kiddushin 69a. Like the [breaking] dawn. Which gradually illuminates little by little; so were the [Bnei] Yisroel during the second Beis Hamikdosh. In the beginning, Zerubavel was the governor of Yehudah, but not a king, and they were subjugated to Persia and to Greece, but afterwards, the house of Chashmonai defeated them and they became kings. Awesome as the hosts [of angels]. Awesome with her mighty men like the bannered legions of kings. All this the Holy One, Blessed Is He, praises the congregation of Yisroel, [beginning with] “You are beautiful, my beloved, as Tirtzah,”²²Above, verse 4. and the entire section until here. </html>

Verse 11

<html>I went down to the garden of nuts. This too is the words of the Divine Presence, “Behold, I have come to this second Beis Hamikdosh, to you.” To see the moist plants of the valley. What moisture, [i.e.,] good deeds I would see in you. Whether the vine has blossomed. Whether you would blossom before Me [into] Torah scholars, scribes, and teachers. If the pomegranates had sprouted. Those who fulfill the commandments are full of merits. Why are [Bnei] Yisroel compared to a nut? Just as this nut, you see it entirely of wood [shell], and what is inside is not discernible, and you crack it and find it full of compartments of edible food, so are the [Bnei] Yisroel modest and humble in their deeds, and the students among them are not discernible, and they do not boast by announcing their own praise. But if you examine him, you find him full of wisdom. There are many additional Midrashic interpretations of this matter. Just as if this nut falls into mud, its inside does not become sullied, so are the [Bnei] Yisroel exiled among the nations and they suffer many blows, but their deeds do not become sullied. </html>

Verse 12

<html>I did not know. The congregation of Yisroel laments, “I did not know how to be aware of sin, that I should retain my glory and my greatness, and I erred over groundless hatred and controversy, which intensified during the reign of the Chashmonai kings, Horkenus and Aristoblus,²³They were brothers who battled one another for the throne. until one of them brought in the Roman Empire and received the kingship from its hand and became its vassal. Since then, “my soul set me” to be “like chariots,” to let the nobility of other nations ride upon me. A noble people. עַמִּי נָדִיב means] the same as עַם נָדִיב[=a noble people]. The yud is superfluous like the yud of, “the One Who took up His abode שֹׁכֵן=שֹׁכְנִי in the thornbush,”²⁴Devarim 33:16. [and as in,] “stolen גְּנֻבַת=גְּנֻבְתִי by day,”²⁵Bereishis 31:39. [and as in,] “populous רַבַּת=רַבָּתִי.”²⁶Eichah 1:1. My soul set me. I myself appointed them over me, as the matter is stated, “and you accustomed them to be officers in charge over you.”²⁷Yeirmiyahu 13:21.</html>

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Table of Contents

Song of Solomon 6

Song of Solomon 6

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 12