Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon 8

14 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Oh that you were like my brother,

who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me. 2I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate. 3His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me.
4I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. 5Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.
6Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh. 7Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. 8We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for?
9If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. 10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace. 11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit. 12My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon, two hundred for those who tend its fruit. 13You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! 14Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!

Commentary

No commentary on this chapter yet.

What others are saying

1 commentator · 14 notes on this chapter

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176314

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

O that thou wert as my brother,.... Or, "who will give thee as a brother to me?" (q) an usual form of wishing, Deuteronomy 5:29, Psalm 14:7. The church here not only requests that Christ would be like a brother to her, but appear to be really one, and to act…

v. 2

I would lead thee, and bring, thee into mother's house,.... The general assembly and church of the firstborn is mother to the church visible, to particular churches and believers, where they are born, educated, and brought up; for which they have a great…

v. 3

His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. That is, when she should have the presence of Christ in her mother's house. Or the words are a petition that so it might be, "let his left hand", &c. (g); or a declaration of what…

World English Bible — Public domain