SECTION IV.
CHAPTER V. 2-VIII. 4.
The Shulamite relates to the court ladies a dream which she has had, in which
she manifests great attachment for her beloved (2-8). The court ladies,
surprised at this extraordinary enthusiasm, ask what there is particular in
his person to cause such an attachment (9). The Shulamite then gives a
description of him (10-16). Whereupon the court ladies inquire where he
is, and offer to seek him (ch. vi. 1). The Shulamite, suspecting their intention,
gives an evasive answer to their inquiry (2, 3). The king, having
heard the Shulamite's beloved mentioned, immediately comes forward and
seeks to win her affections (4-9); in exalting her beauty, he repeats how
the court ladies had praised her when they first saw her (10). The
Shulamite, having explained how she came to be seen by the court ladies,
withdraws (11, 12.) The king calls her back (ch. vii. 1); and, as she
returns, describes her charms, and wishes to enjoy the love of one so
beautiful (2-10). The Shulamite refuses the king's desire, stating that her
affections were espoused (11); then addressing herself to her beloved, she
asks him to go home with her, and descants upon their rural pleasures
(12-14). Remembering, however, that circumstances even at home prevented
the full manifestation of her love, she longs for those obstacles to be
removed (ch. viii. 1, 2). Overcome by her feelings, she wishes that none
but her beloved may support her (3), and with the little strength she has
left, adjures the court ladies not to persuade her to change her love (4).
THE SHULAMITE.
2 I was sleeping, but my heart kept awake,
Hark! my beloved! he is knocking!
Open to me, my sister, my love!
My dove, my perfect beauty!
2. I was sleeping, &c. The sympathies manifested by some of the court ladies for the Shulamite, at the close of the last section, encourage her to relate to them a dream which she recently had. The purpose of this narration is the description of the shepherd to which it leads, and which is necessary to the completion of the whole drama. [HE: y^eS/Enoh], like the participle form generally, may be used to express all the relations of time. Comp. [HE: k.iy kul.om/ y^eS/Eniym/], for all were sleeping, 1 Sam. xxvi. 12; 1 Kings iii. 20. Gesen. § 134, 1; Ewald, § 306 d. [HE: lEb], heart, here the seat of thought. The Hebrews regarded the heart, not only as the seat of the passions, but also of the intellectual faculties of the mind. The whole clause is merely another way of saying [HE: b.aHa:lOmiy], Gen. xli. 17. The circumlocution is chosen in preference to [HE: b.aHa:lmiy], to indicate that the powers under which the exhausted frame succumbed, could not keep her mind from dwelling upon the object of her affections. [HE: qOl], hark; vide supra, ii. 8. [HE: dOpEq] is best taken with the Sept., Syriac, Vulg., and many modern commentators, as a separate clause, he is knocking. The Sept. adds [GR: e)pi\ tê\n thu/ran], at the door, after [HE: dOpEq], he is knocking.
Open to me, &c. She introduces him speaking. To make his request the more urgent, he pleads that he had
