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direct one in Scripture. צבי (= צבי, dialect. טבי), fem. צביה (Aram. טביתא, Act 9:36), plur. tsebaim or tsebajim, fem. tsabaōth (according with the pl. of צבא), softened from tsebajōth, is the name for the gazelle, from the elegance of its form and movements. אילות is the connecting form of איּלות, whose consonantal Yod in the Assyr. and Syr. is softened to the diphthong ailuv, ailaa; the gen. “of the field,” as not distinguishing but describing, belongs to both of the animals, therefore also the first is without the article. או (after the etymon corresponding to the Lat. vel) proceeds, leaving out of view the repetition of this so-called Slumber-Song (Sol 3:5; cf. Sol 8:4, as also Sol 2:9), from the endeavour to give to the adjuration the greatest impression; the expression is varied, for the representations flit from image to image, and the one, wherever possible, is surpassed by the other (vid., at Pro 30:31).
Under this verse Hengst. remarks: “The bride would not adjure by the hinds, much more would she adjure by the stage.” He supposes that Solomon is here the speaker; but a more worthless proof for this could not be thought of. On the contrary, the adjuration by the gazelles, etc., shows that the speaker here is one whose home is the field and wood; thus also not the poet (Hitz.) nor the queen-mother (Böttch.), neither of whom is ever introduced as speaking. The adjuration is that love should not be disturbed, and therefore it is by the animals that are most lovely and free, which roam through the fields. Zöckler, with whom in this one point Grätz agrees, finds here, after the example of Böttch. and Hitz., the earnest warning against wantonly exciting love in themselves (cf. Lat. irritamenta veneris, irritata voluptas) till God Himself awakens it, and heart finds itself in sympathy with heart. But the circumstances in which Shulamith is placed ill accord with such a general moralizing. The adjuration is repeated, Sol 3:5; Sol 8:4, and wherever Shulamith finds herself near her beloved, as she is here in his arms. What lies nearer, then, than that she should guard against a disturbance of this love-ecstasy, which is like a slumber penetrated by delightful dreams? Instead of אתכם, תּעירוּ, and תּעוררוּ, should be more exactly the words אתכן, תּעררנה, and תּעוררנה; but the gram. distinction of the genera is in Heb. not perfectly developed. We meet also with the very same synallage generis, without this adjuration formula, at Sol 5:8; Sol 7:1; Sol 4:2; Sol 6:8, etc.; it is also elsewhere frequent; but in the Song it perhaps belongs to the foil of the vulgar given to the highly poetic. Thus also in the vulgar Arab. the fem. forms jaḳtulna, taḳtulna, corresponding to תּקטלנה, are fallen out of use. With העיר, expergefacere, there is connected the idea of an interruption of sleep; with עורר, excitare,