Song of Solomon 8

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Song of Solomon 8

1 O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

3 His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.

4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.

6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

<html>If only you were a brother to me. That you would come to comfort me in the manner that Yoseif did to his brothers,¹Alternatively, if only my desire that my relationship with God, i.e., to be near Him and to pursue His holiness were out of love, as one’s relatioship is with his brother. (Sforno) who did evil to him, and it is stated concerning him, “and he comforted them.”²The Gemara in Bechoros 8a states, that from the time of an apple tree’s blossoming until its fruits are ripened, a period of sixty days elapse. Accordingly, an apple represents the sixty masechtos incorporated into the Oral Law. Mount Sinai was suspended over Bnei Yisroel’s heads “like an apple” in order to arouse them to accept the Oral Law of the Torah. (Yosef Beor) When I would find you outside I would kiss you. I would find Your prophets speaking in Your Name, and I would embrace them and kiss them; I also know that “no one would scorn me,” for Your love is worthy that Your beloved should go about in search of it. </html>

Verse 2

<html>To my mother’s house. The Beis Hamikdosh. That you should teach me. As You were accustomed to do in the Tent of Meeting. I would give you spiced wine to drink. Libations. Of the nectar. Sweet wine.</html>

Verse 3

<html>His left hand is under my head, etc. </html>

Verse 4

<html>I bind you under oath. Now the congregation of Yisroel addresses the nations, “Even though I complain and lament, my Beloved holds my hand, and He is my support in my exile; therefore, ‘I bind you under oath.’” Why should you cause hatred or disturb. For it will be of no avail.</html>

Verse 5

<html>Who is she. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, and His Tribunal, say about the congregation of Yisroel, “Who is she?” How very worthy she is, who was ascended from the wilderness with all the good gifts. There she became elevated at the giving of the Torah and cleaving to the Divine Presence, and her love was visible to all, and while still in her exile— Clinging to her beloved. She is attached to her Beloved, admitting that she is His companion and attached to Him. “רפק” [is found] in the Arabic word “רפקתא,” [which means] attachment. Beneath the apple tree I aroused you. So she says as she seeks the affection of her Beloved; “Beneath the apple tree I aroused You.” Remember that under Mount Sinai, which was suspended over my head like an apple,³Bereishis 50:21. there “I aroused You.” This is an expression of the affection of the wife of one’s youth, who arouses her beloved at night when he is asleep on his bed, and she embraces him and kisses him. There [your mother] had birth pains. We have already stated that the Holy One, Blessed Is He, called her [Yisroel] His mother.⁴Above 3:11. There she became to You as a mother. Birth pains. An expression of birth pangs. Birth pains. Birth pangs came to her from You, as in, “my children have left me,”⁵Yirmiyahu 10:20. [i.e.,] they went away from me. </html>

Verse 6

<html>Set me as a seal. For the sake of that love, seal me upon Your heart,⁶In the same manner that a seal is affixed on one’s hand and is not removed, so too, set me as a seal upon Your heart. (Metzudas Dovid) so that You do not forget me, and You will see. For love is as strong as death. The extent of my love that I loved You is to me equal to my death, for I am killed for Your sake.⁷My love to You is so strong that I would choose death before relinquishing my love for You. (Metzudas Dovid) Jealousy is as harsh as the grave. The quarrel that the nations were jealous and quarreled with me because of You. “קִנְאָה” every place [in Scripture] means enprenment in O.F., an expression of conveying feelings to wreak vengeance. Fire from the flame of God. Coals of a strong fire that comes from the force of the flame of Gehinnom. The cantillation symbol of the zakef gadol, which punctuates “רִשְׁפֵּי” teaches us about the word “אֵשׁ [fire],” that it is connected to “שַׁלְהֶבֶתְיָה,” meaning “fire from the flame of God.” </html>

Verse 7

<html>Many waters cannot quench the love. Since he refers to them with an expression of coals, the term “cannot quench” is appropriate for them.⁸The pain and suffering that Bnei Yisroel endured throughout its many exiles, “cannot quench the love [for God],” which remains intact. (Sefer Dudaim) Many waters. The nations. And rivers. Their princes and their kings. Cannot drown it. Through force or terror, or even through enticement and seduction. If a man would give all the wealth of his house. In exchange for your love. They would surely scorn him. On all these the Holy One, Blessed Is He, and His Tribunal,⁹Rashi adds, “and His Tribunal,” because the Verse following begins with “We…”, the plural form. (Sifsei Chachomim) testify that to this extent the congregation of Yisroel clings to her Beloved. Now—</html>

Verse 8

<html>We have a [little] sister. In the earthly abode, who unites, joins and desires to be with us, and she is little and humbles herself more than all the nations, as the matter is stated, “Not because you are more numerous, etc.”¹⁰Devorim 7:7. for they humble themselves. A [little] sister. אָחוֹת is] an expression of joining, [as in,] “These are the rends that may not be sewn up completely מִתְאַחִין.”¹¹Maseches Mo’ed Katan 26a. But she has no breasts. As the matter is stated concerning the exile of Egypt, “[Her] breasts were developed,”¹²Yechezkeil 16:7; connoting the readiness for redemption. when the time of the redemption arrived, but this one, “she has no breasts;” her time has not yet arrived for the time of love. What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for. When the nations whisper about her to destroy her, as the matter is stated, “Come, let us destroy them from being a nation.”¹³Tehillim 83:5. </html>

Verse 9

<html>If she be a wall. If she is strong in her faith and in her fear of God, to be against them like a copper wall, that they should not enter her midst, meaning that she will not intermarry with them, and they will not intermingle with her, and she will not be seduced by them. We will build upon her a fortress of silver. We will become for her a fortified city and for a crown and beauty, and we will build for her the Holy City and the Temple. If she be a door. Which turns on its hinges, and opens whenever someone knocks on it, she, too, if she opens for them so that they enter her and she into them.¹⁴I.e., intermarry, intermingle. We will enclose her with panels of cedar. We will put on her door wooden panels which rot and which the worm gnaws and eats. Thereupon, the congregation of Yisroel replies— </html>

Verse 10

<html>I am a wall. Strong in the love of my Beloved. And my bosom is like towers. These are the synagogues and the study halls, which nurture Yisroel with words of Torah. Therefore. When I say this. I am in his eyes as one who found peace. Like a bride who is found to be perfect שְׁלֵמָה=שָׁלוֹם, and who finds peace in her husband’s house.¹⁵See Maseches Pesachim 87a. </html>

Verse 11

<html>Shlomo had a vineyard. This is the congregation of Yisroel, as it is stated, “For the vineyard of Adonoy, Master of Legions, is the house of Yisroel.”¹⁶Yeshayahu 5:7. In the Plain of Hamon. In Yerusholayim, which is populous and has a multitude of people [=הָמוֹן. Ba’al. An expression denoting a plain, as in, “from the Plain מִבַּעַל of Gad in the Levanon valley.”¹⁷Yehoshua 12:7. He gave over the vineyard to caretakers. He delivered her into the hands of harsh masters, Bavel, Madai, Greece, and Edom. In Midrash Shir Hashirim, I found some support concerning these “caretakers,” that they are these kingdoms. Each of them brought for its fruit. Whatever they could collect from them, [e.g.,] head taxes, tithes, and illegal foreclosures; they collected everything from them to bring into their homes.¹⁸I.e., they kept for themselves whatever monies they collected. </html>

Verse 12

<html>My vineyard is before me. On the Day of Judgement, the Holy One, Blessed Is He, will bring them to judgement, and He will say, “My vineyard, even though I delivered it into your hands, it is Mine, and before Me is all that you seized for yourselves, of its fruit, and it is not hidden from Me what you collected from them.” And they will reply— The thousand are yours Shlomo. “The thousand silver pieces that we collected from them, we will return everything to You.” And two hundred for those who guard its fruit. “And we will add much more of our own, and we will give it to them, to their leaders and their sages,” as the matter is stated, “In place of the copper I will bring gold.”¹⁹Yeshayahu 60:17. For those who guard its fruit. These are the Torah scholars, and those payments are for the Torah scholars, as it is stated, “but to those who sit before Adonoy belong its merchandise,”²⁰Ibid. 23:18. and the hire of Tzor. And it can also be explained, “and two hundred for those who guard its fruit,” according to the law of a person who derives benefit from consecrated property, that he must pay the principal and a fifth. We too will pay, for, “Yisroel is holy to Adonoy, the first of His produce,”²¹Yirmiyahu 2:3. the principal and a fifth, i.e., a fifth of the principal, and two hundred is a fifth of a thousand. </html>

Verse 13

<html>You who sit in the gardens. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, says to the congregation of Yisroel, “You, who are scattered in exile, grazing in the gardens of strangers and sitting in synagogues and study halls.” Companions listen to your voice. The ministering angels your friends, children of God like you, hearken and come to listen to your voice in the synagogues. Let me hear [your voice]. And afterwards, they will sanctify [My Name], as it is stated, “When the morning stars sing together.”²²Iyov 38:7. These are the Israelites, and afterwards, “and all the angels of God shout praise.”²³Ibid. </html>

Verse 14

<html>Flee my beloved. From this exile, and redeem us from among them. And be like a gazelle. To hasten the redemption, and to cause Your Divine Presence to rest—Upon the mountains of spices. This is Mount Moriyah and the Beis Hamikdosh, may it be rebuilt speedily and in our days, Amen.</html>

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Table of Contents

Song of Solomon 8

Song of Solomon 8

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 13

Verse 14