For the sun hath browned me.
My mother's sons were severe with me,
They made me keeper of their vineyards,
Though my own vineyard I never kept.—
is well explained by the Chald., Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Rashbam, Immanuel, &c., [HE: 'lO tbzvny], do not disdain me. [HE: ro'oh], to see, is also used for looking down upon any one, Job. xli. 26. Instead of [HE: t.ir^e'uniy], four of Kennicott's MSS., two of De Rossi's, and two more, originally read [HE: tyr'vny], fear me not, which is adopted by Döderlein; but the reading of the received text is both more supported, and suits the connexion better; for it can hardly be possible that the damsel was actually so black as to inspire terror; or that the court ladies were so highly nervous as to be so easily frightened. Hodgson's rendering, mind me not, is incorrect. The [HE: S] in [HE: S/e'a:niy], stands for [HE: 'a:S/er], the [HE: '] being rejected by aphaeresis, and the [HE: r] assimilated; Gesen. § 36. [HE: S/^eHar^eHOr], blackish; adjectives denoting colour have frequently the last two stem letters repeated to render them diminutives; as [HE: 'a:dam^edom/], reddish, Lev. xiii. 19; [HE: y^eraq^eraq], greenish, Lev. xiii. 49. So Rashi, Ibn Erza, Rashbam, Immanuel, Gesen. § 84. 23; Ewald, § 157 c. [HE: S/ozop/], i.q. [HE: S/odap/], to scorch, to burn, Gen. xxiii. 17; xli. 6. So the Syriac, Aquila, Theodotion, Ewald, Gesenius, Meier, Hitzig, &c. The [HE: z] and [HE: d] frequently interchange, compare [HE: goza`] and [HE: goda`], to cut down; and are even found to do so by the same inspired writer; compare [HE: nid^e`a:kv.], Job. vi. 17, with [HE: niz^e`a:kv.], xvii. 1. [HE: b.^enEy 'im.iy], not step-brothers, (Houbigant, Ewald, Good,) who would not have such power over their sister, but poetically used for [HE: 'aHay], my brothers. Comp. Gen. xxvii. 20; Ps. l. 20; lxix. 9. [HE: niHa:rv. is the Niphal of [HE: Horar], to burn, (comp. Ps. cii. 4; Gesen. § 6, 7, 8, Rem. 5; Ewald, § 140 a. § 193 c.), and not from [HE: Horoh] (Kimchi, Ibn Ezra, Immanuel, &c.) which would be [HE: neHe:rv.], Is. xli. 11.
Though my own vineyard, &c. The word [HE: k.ar^emiy], is either taken to denote the Shulamite's personal appearance, or to mean her beloved: and the phrase is explained, "Through the constant watch which my brothers made me keep over their vineyard, I could not take care of ([HE: k.ar^emiy]) my complexion; or could not attend to ([HE: k.ar^emiy]) my beloved." But it is a hazardous mode of interpretation to take an expression in the same verse in an ordinary and in an extraordinary sense, which ought never to be done unless required by absolute necessity, which is not the case here. Dr. Good indeed escapes this inconsistency by assigning a spiritual meaning to [HE: k.erem/], (viz. personal estate, one's own person) in both clauses; and he submits that "the bride asserts that she had been compelled to neglect her own person, through the perpetual attention which was demanded of her by her brothers or sisters in decorating themselves, or in assisting in their concerns." But apart from the unnecessary and unjustifiable deviation from the literal meaning, this interpretation is entirely at variance with the context. For in the words, "They have made me keeper of their vineyards," the Shulamite evidently means to explain how she came to be exposed to the tanning sun. Whereas, the supposition of her perpetual attention to the adornment of her brothers, fails to account for the brown complexion. If however, with Ibn Ezra, we take these words to explain the severity of her brothers, everything will be plain and unforced. The damsel says, "My brothers were so angry—so severe with me that, resolved to carry out their purpose, they made me keep their vineyards, [HE: vbtHylh qvrm/ zh 'pylv krmy Sly l' nTrty], a thing which I had never done before, even to my own vineyard. It is utterly inconceivable how those who maintain that this Song celebrates the marriage of Solomon with
