A. Song 7:1a: The Sons' Request (page
52)
"Come back, come back, O Shulamith..." Here some of the Sons see the Dear One walk by (or walk away from
them) and ask her to return -- or to turn around. Evidently they like her walk, the curves of her backside. Their
desire is explicitly sexual; they hope
her front looks as good as her rear!1
It is not for nothing that the Loved One describes the Dear One
almost entirely face-to-face. His desire for her is totally personal.
Song 7:1 is the only verse which mentions Shulamith by name (twice). Actually, it says haSchulaMit: the Shulamith. (The
second time, it says baSchulaMit: "on
the Shulamith".) This is why "Shulamith" is usually explained as an adjective, not a proper name
(cf. Appendix 1). Were it a proper name
(one might ask), would it not be simply schulaMit
in Hebrew?
Actually, no. The Sons in verse 7a address
Shulamith directly. It is, indeed, her name -- but it is a "pet name", in a sense titular in its significance (as some commentators have inferred). The definite article is given for
emphasis, much as it is often added to Elohim
(to form ha'Elohim). Given the reputation
of its owner, the name no doubt provoked longing of itself (just as a famous supermodel's name in our day is a
symbol of beauty and desirability). The Dear One is indeed "the Shulamith" -- the darling of Solomon (schelomo) -- but she is not Abishag the Shunammite, nor from her home town.
It is no coincidence that the Hebrew translated "that we may gaze" comes from the root haza. This
verb is used almost entirely in poetic contexts; it and its derivatives often refer to spiritual "vision".
The Dear One is a "vision of loveliness" (in our vernacular), an apt type of the kehal
ha'Elohim -- but also an unwilling source of sensual gratification for hungry
males.
B. Song 7:1b: The Dear One's Reproof
(page
52)
The Dear One is not pleased with the Sons' request. She asks:
Why should you look upon the Shulamith,
as upon the dance of Mahanaim?
Yet her reply is from humble self-respect, not from outrage
(7:1b). (Her displeasure is nicely underlined by the drop from the augmented 4th to the 1st degree on ma - Tehezou, "Why should you look...?").
Most translators think Solomon (or the alleged shepherd) says these words; would not the Dear One have said, "Why
do you look at me..."? In fact, were
the Loved One to sing here, the melodic-verbal hemistichs in this verse would lose much of their contrast. There
is also a certain shrillness in the "euphony"2 of verse 7b which does not fit the masculine
soloist well, and which is lacking in verse 7a.
Here is another reason why we think "Shulamith" is a name, not merely an adjective. Would she reply merely
as the former inhabitant of Shunem? On the other hand, her humility (obvious in the melos) prevents her from asking, "Why do you look on me...?" as if her offense
were the issue. She answers as "the Shulamith" because she is important
to Solomon. His Love is what has enabled her self-worth to grow, during their
courtship and marriage. She belongs to him. She has gained her identity through her relationship with Solomon (just
as God's people do through their relationship with God). What right do the Sons have to look on her as a sex object,
even an idealized one?
"The dance of Mahanaim" is indeed the correct translation, even if many translators render the phrase
"the dance of two companies" or "armies" (Haïk-Vantoura, "of two choirs"). "Mahanaim"
literally means "two camps" or "two companies"; it was the name Jacob gave to the site where
his family met God's angels (Genesis 32:3, Hebrew versification). We would think a
priori the Dear One would evoke the movements of a solo dance. But would this
dance be before or between two companies,
as many suggest? The words (or for once, even the melody) of this verse alone cannot determine its intent. We must
set it in its complete context.
This verse (indeed all of 7:1-11) is parallel to 2:14 in the overall poetic structure. In 2:14 Solomon asks to
look upon his Dear One (using a different word root, found again in 8:13). His motivation then (before marriage)
as well as in this chapter (after marriage) is love, not lust. Quite different are the motivations of the Sons
of Jerusalem and the Dear One's Admirers, who make their appearance in the next verse!
C. Song 7:2: The Admirers' Desire
(page
52)
The Sons who see the Dear One walk by at least have a fairly idealistic desire for her. Not so the Dear One's Admirers!
Here we see the darker side of what a beautiful wife faces: the lustful fantasies
of strangers...So different is the mood here from 7:1 that Haïk-Vantoura
inserts between the verses an imaginative melodic phrase, leading us from one quality of desire to another.3
The late musicologist Alfred Sendrey inferred that Song 7:1b indeed refers to "the dance of Mahanaim".
In this, he was all but alone.4
He added that Song 7:2-4 gives us a description of the dance itself -- or rather of the dancer in the eyes of the
beholder! According to Sendrey, in Genesis 32:2-3 (32:1-2 in the KJV):
"[Jacob saw] two groups of angels hovering in air and swaying rhythmically in
a sort of 'antiphonal' dance. Knowing this, we read the erotic Hebrew verses [Song 7:1-4] with a different eye....The
dance of Mahanaim clearly is conjured up for the beholder by the breasts of the Shulamite maiden, which are swaying
rhythmically in her dance like the two groups of angels in Jacob's vision!"5
Sendrey's interpretation reads into Genesis 32:1-2 and Song 7:1b-4 something they
do not say.6 Nowhere are we told
that the angels Jacob met formed two companies, let alone that they danced. Jacob says of the angels, "This
is God's company (mahané)". "Two companies" (mahanaim) refers to the angels
on the one hand and Jacob and his family and servants
on the other. Jacob commemorated their meeting by naming the place where they met Mahanaim. (In later times, the location became an important Israelite settlement, whatever others may
have lived there first -- and it became famous for a particular kind of local dance, alluded to here.)
There is indeed a "dance of Mahanaim" described here -- but only the original melody could have assured
us that the "dance" is described in 7:2 alone, not in the following verses. The reference to the Dear
One's breasts in verse 4 has nothing to do with the dance. It is part of the private
lovemaking of the Lovers. Sendrey's fixation on swaying breasts (which again
is nowhere mentioned in the context, musically or verbally) is his own, not that of the Admirers or Solomon.7
The melos of 7:2 and its rhythm suggest
the graceful steps of the dancer's feet, then the slow undulation of the dancer's hips. The verse is not strictly
metrical; it gives the suggestion of subtle variation in the dancer's movements. The melody itself dips from the
1st to the 6th degree of the mode below the tonic (a degree used rarely in the Song), then rises to the 4th, then
the 5th degree. Her movements are suggested by the movement of the melody between the 4th and 5th degrees. A brief
melodic curve, figuratively outlining the artful curve of her hips ("the work of the hand of an artist..."),
ends the verse. The mode here is pure diatonic minor (in 7:1 it is diatonic minor with the 4th degree augmented).8
The word hala'im ("necklaces", Haïk-Vantoura) refers to ornaments of some kind; the singular
is found in Proverbs 25:12. Some think the word refers here to "jewels" or "carbuncles": the
rounded gemstones used in antiquity (faceting then being unknown). Whether the phrase haMuqê yerékayikh ("the curves of your
hips") describes the curves of the dancer's hips, their circular movements,9 or simply their formal grace and beauty, there is a certain darkness to the Admirers' praise. One can imagine them watching the dancer in a room lit only by a
few lamps...
Bat-nadiv ("O daughter of nobility",
Haïk-Vantoura; "O prince's daughter", KJV; "O queenly maiden!", RSV) reminds us that this
verse refers to Shulamith. She is not royal by birth, but she certainly is "queenly" now. The Admirers
look at the movement of her hips, but they are but a symbol of what they desire. Perhaps Solomon is quoting in 7:2 the words of a popular song of his
day? Words sung to the then-famous "dance of Mahanaim", every bit as dignified as Roberta Kells Dorr
imagined in her novels (if apparently slower and more sensual than her concept)?10
D. Song 7:3-6: The Loved One's Admiration
(pages
53,
54,
55,
56)
Once again the scene changes completely. In her arrangement (which is an evocation, not a reconstruction
of the original arrangement), Haïk-Vantoura inserts an instrumental melody taken from that of 7:11 ("I
am my Lover's, and his desire is for me"). Song 7:2ff (as the melody combined with the verbal subject matter
makes clear) is not the praise of the Loved One, nor is 7:3ff sung by the Admirers. In the original performance,
there may well have been an in-strumental reminder here that the Dear One belongs to her husband, not to others.
Some such break in the verbal sense seems necessary, so great is the melodic contrast between verses 2 and 3.
In verse 2, the melos describes the Dear
One's slow movements (in "fantasy"). In verses 3-6, the Dear One is "at rest": the object of the verbal action, not the subject of it.
In 4:1-6 the Loved One moves from the Dear One's head downward (and stops at her pudenda, delicately described).
In 7:2 the process begins in reverse: the Admirers describe her hips (and by implication what lies between them).11 In a similar (but much more light-hearted)
sense, the saucy Mercutio calls to Romeo in hiding:
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eye...
By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh,
And the demenses that there adjacent lie...12
Solomon is much more serious (and yet delicate) in his treatment of bachelor lust,
because he takes its contrast with marital love
much more seriously! Thus the next several verses continue to the Dear One's head -- but they are sung by the Loved
One. This whole self-contrasting passage is the "word-play" we described earlier, one obscure apart from
the original melody.
This is why schorrekh (7:3) cannot refer
to the Dear One's vulva as many think
today. Everywhere else in the Bible, schorer
refers to the navel, even if the word
is spelled slightly differently in other verses (cf. Appendix 1). Besides, the purity
of the Loved One's melodic-verbal description does not suit the sort of desire the vulva would provoke. "Your
navel (schorrekh) is as a round goblet
-- may it never lack mixed wine!" is a charming description of one of the Dear One's cuter "parts"
-- but not of her "secret parts" (even if her natural lubrication could suggest the latter identification).
"Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies" (RSV). The Loved One wants to kiss not only the
Dear One's navel, but her stomach and belly. Perhaps her belly was even rounded a bit with fat; certainly it was
delectable! Yet the same sense of outgoing
concern dominates the Loved One's lovemaking in this chapter (as it does everywhere else).
We notice too that the Loved One uses different metaphors in this chapter (for the most part) than he did on his
wedding night. He repeated some of those earlier metaphors in Song 6:5-7. Now he shows a greater poetic creativity
to match his enriched palette of emotions for her. But not a palette without familiar hues: "Your two breasts
are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle" (Haïk-Vantoura). Here is a familiar metaphor of shapely firmness
combined with softness: a shortened version of 4:5, in "Greek Dorian" mode (as are 7:5-7).
The Loved One proceeds (7:5) to her neck, slender and white as an ivory tower; her eyes "like the pools of
Heshbon"13 (in the territory
of Reuben, well south of Mahanaim); and her nose "like the tower of Lebanon, which faces toward Damascus"
(Haïk-Vantoura). Evidently Solomon was a well-traveled young man -- and these locations (and the others he
mentions in the Song) were within the realm David and Solomon ruled.
Surely these metaphors are not totally strange to us. Who has not heard of "eyes like limpid pools" in
our culture's romantic language? But a nose like the "tower of Lebanon"? No doubt the Dear One's nose
was straight, well-formed, prominent but suited to her face, just as a watchtower on the slopes of majestic Lebanon
would have been suited to its setting. (His description of her eyes and nose have the greatest musical emphasis
in this section; the melody rises to the 6th degree several times, setting off "eyes", "gate"
and "nose" for special attention.)
The Dear One's head is regal in itself. It "crowns you like Carmel", the Loved One says (Carmel or karmel
being another mountain proverbial for its stateliness). The hair of her head is "like the purple" (ka'arGaman) -- like flowing cloth dyed with Tyrian purple,
suitable for royal and priestly garments and furniture. "A king is caught in the tresses," the Loved
One adds (7:6). His fingers are intertwined in her hair as he takes in the sight and scent of her.
We wondered earlier if Shulamith is a redhead, as her "ruddy" father-in-law David apparently was.14 The words karmel and arGaman in 7:6
are respelled by some interpreters to make both refer to color ("crimson" and "purple"; cf.
Appendix 1). The metaphor, in context,
seems to refer to the luster and lushness
of the Dear One's hair (and of its "regal" beauty); we insist on the received reading in any case.15 But is color completely missing from the imagery?
No doubt in the light of a dim lamp, Shulamith's hair (with its highlights) appeared like flowing purple robes
(which suggests her hair is dark brown or black, not red).
All the above passages are the words of King Solomon; there is no break in the musical or verbal context. The Hebrew
word translated "tresses" is used only here (cf. Appendix 1); it conveys perhaps the sense of flowing. The Dear One's locks are the "crowning touch" to her perfect figure and lovely
face, every feature of which the Loved One describes with a different musical motif.
E. Song 7:7-10a: The Loved One's Desire
(pages
56,
57)
How beautiful you are, and how pleasant,
O love, in delights! (verse 7)
The Loved One's tender gratification at his Dear One's beauty is summed exquisitely
in 7:7.16 It may be the most emotionally pregnant of his statements in the Song; it
has a delicate, delicious expectancy.17
(This verse is in "Greek Dorian" mode; verses 8-9, in diatonic minor; verse 10, in "Greek Dorian"
once again.) "In delights" is baTa`anougîm, referring to the sensual pleasures which the Dear One's form can give her Lover.
Now singing expressivo (expressively)
and slightly faster, the Loved One accents the Dear One's stature (verse 8). "This" (zot) begins the verse on the 6th degree, falling immediately
to the tonic on "your stature" (komatékh),
emphasizing her height, which he compares to that of a palm tree.18 We prefer the RSV's rendering, "and your breasts are like [the palm tree's] clusters"
to Haïk-Vantoura's comparison to "clusters of grapes".19 Here it is probably the ripeness, fullness and sweetness, not specifically the roundness,
of the "clusters" that is being emphasized (as befitting a comparison with the clusters of dates on a
date palm).
The Loved One (verse 9) has been looking forward to climbing the "palm tree" and laying hold of its "branches"
(where the "clusters" hang).20
Now he wishes, fervently, to kiss her
while caressing her round, firm breasts
(thus, the analogy here to "clusters of the vine" rather than of the palm tree). The melismas on schadayikh ("your breasts") suggest his circular caresses, perhaps given by both hands at once.21 He also longs for the applelike fragrance
of her breath (literally, "nose"); the verse calms into melodic resolution as he mentions it. Going on
from there (verse 10a), he tenderly likens her mouth (literally, her palate) to the best wine; the melody suggests the intimacy of deep,
prolonged kissing.
F. Song 7:10b: The Dear One's Response
(pages
57,
58)
In the midst of the verse, the speaker changes -- something that happens often enough in Psalms and other liturgical
texts, but in only a few verses in the Song. The NIV takes this into account, but not all translations do. The
RSV amends "which flows for my Loved One gently" (holekh leDodi lemêscharim) to "goes down smoothly", on the supposition that the Loved One is still speaking.
It also alters Dovev çiftê yeschenim
to "gliding over (my) lips and teeth" (Dovev çefatay veschinay), based on the same assumption. This last reading is supported by the Septuagint, Aquila,
Syriac and Vulgate versions, which were rendered without the benefit of the ancient melody (cf. Appendix 1 on dovev).
The reading of the Masoretic Text is perfectly appropriate. The Dear One responds (as she did at the end of Song
4) to her Loved One's approach. She desires to share deep kissing with him, likening it to wine. After their lovemaking,
the Loved One shall sleep, then murmur in his sleep, just as if he'd been made drowsy by wine. The near-somnolent melody she sings (in Dorian mode, with
the second degree natural rather than augmented as in diatonic minor) confirms this. The word dovev (used only here in the Bible) refers to whispering rather than "gliding" in the literal sense. (Haïk-Vantoura paraphrases this
hemistich, "and makes (even) the loquacious lips drowsy.")
G. Song 7:11: The Dear One's Affirmation
(page
58)
Now in diatonic minor, the Dear One affirms (in the light of morning) her Loved One's devotion to and desire for
her. Both affect her deeply (as the minor mode suggests), yet they give her a sense of security (as the exclusive
use of tonic, 3rd, 4th and 5th degrees in the melody affirms). The melody of this verse is inserted by Haïk-Vantoura
(in the instrumental accompaniment) after the Admirer's description of the dance of Mahanaim, to remind them and
everyone to whom the Dear One belongs. Any transgression of this relationship would be a
sacrilege!
H. Song 7:12-14: The Dear One's Invitation
(pages
58,
59)
Some time later, the Dear One invites the Loved One to a romantic "getaway" in the country. The vines
and pomegranates are about to bloom, reminding one both of the Loved One's reverie (6:11-12) and his courtship
of her in 2:8-13 (to which these verses are parallel). The mode is Hypophrygian, here as in the parallel sections,
radiant with the light of spring.
"We will see..." (verse 12) has special attention called to it by a melisma used in the Song only here,
1:8, 2:14 and 5:2 (cf. Appendix 2). They
will indeed see (and enjoy for its own sake) what Nature offers, but that is not the reason for their trip: "There
I will give my caresses to you" (Haïk-Vantoura). This will be a romantic tryst, not just a "trip
to the country".
Nature itself conspires with the Dear One in her plans. Mandrakes -- proverbial aphrodisiacs -- give forth their
fragrance (verse 13), while fruits from both the past fall and the new spring ("that I have reserved for you,
my Lover") decorate the door. All these are symbolic of the new and old delights of physical love which the
Dear One has been saving for this occasion. Like any happy, sexually "awakened" wife, she wants to try
"new tricks" on her Lover. Yet (here as always) the Dear One is radiant with a Godly innocence springing from a totally unself-conscious love. There is nothing sordid about her sexuality, however creative her ideas for applying it may be!
Despite the attention the melody gives to "we will see" (and then to the details of the setting of the
tryst to come), the melos suggests above
all a mood for lovemaking. Here Shulamith invites Solomon to a place where they can infuse the new life of spring
into their marital relationship. No less do the servants of God need to renew their spiritual relationship with
Him -- and sometimes they must "get away from it all" to do it.
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