Behold, thou art beautiful,
Thine eyes are doves.
THE SHULAMITE.
16 Behold, thou art comely, my beloved,
Yea thou art lovely;
Yea, verdant is our couch;
17 Our bower is of cedar arches,
9; [HE: `ayin/ ra`], [GR: o)phthalmo\s ponêro\s], an evil eye,
Deut. xv. 9, Mark vii. 22. The dove
is the emblem of purity and constancy.
Ps. lvi. 1; Matt. x. 16. [HE: `Eynayik/^e yvOniym/] are
taken by the Syriac, Vulg., Ibn Ezra,
Rashbam, Immanuel, Luther, Authorized
Version, Kleuker, Percy, Gesenius,
Döpke, Rosenmüller, Meier, &c. as
an ellipsis for [HE: `Eyneyk/o `EynEy yvOniym/], thine eyes
are doves' eyes. Gesen. § 144, Rem.
Ewald, § 296, b. But such an ellipsis
can be tolerated only in extreme emergencies,
whereas here the natural
construction yields an excellent sense.
Besides, v. 2 proves that the doves
themselves, and not the eyes, are the
point of comparison, just as the hair
and the teeth are (iv. 1, 2) compared
to the goats and sheep themselves,
and not merely to their hair and teeth.
And [HE: `Eynayik/^e b^erEkvOt] (vii. 4), which does not
mean, thou hast fish-ponds eyes, but,
thine eyes are like the fish-ponds themselves.
Hence the Sept., Chald., Rashi,
Mendelssohn, Hodgson, Ewald, Umbreit,
Magnus, Williams, Hengstenberg,
Phillipson, Hitzig, rightly reject
this elliptical construction.
16. Behold, thou art comely. The Shulamite, refusing to receive all the praise, responds: "It is thou who art lovely and attractive;" and referring to their meeting-spot, she adds, "Lovely is our flowery couch; the arches of our bowers are formed of the spreading and interweaving branches of the majestic and odoriferous cedars and cypresses." [HE: no`iym/] is to be mentally supplied before [HE: `ar^eS\Env. ra`a:nonoh]; comp. Prov. iii. 11, i. e. Yea, lovely is our verdant couch. The adj. [HE: ra`a:nonoh] is formed from the Pilel of the verb. [HE: ro`an/]. This conjugation, which is formed by doubling the third radical (see supra, 5), is used to describe permanent states or conditions, or some striking property; comp. Job xii. 5; Gesen. § 55, 2; Ewald, § 120 a. [HE: qvOroh], beam, roof (Gen. xix. 8), here arch, vault. [HE: rohiyT], i.q. [HE: roHiyT] in the [HE: k.^etiyk] (the [HE: h] is sometimes pronounced harshly like the [HE: H], comp. [HE: rohiyT], Exod. ii. 16, where the Samaritan has [HE: roHiyT], and Gesen. § 7, 4), is rendered by the Sept., Vulg., Ewald, Gesenius, &c. fretted ceilings; by Kimchi galleries; and the anonymous manuscript explains it bolt, and adds, [HE: vhnh nqr' rhyT lpy Srx/ hnh vhnh], "it is called bolt because it runs backward and forward." But this is not in keeping with the structure of the verse. [HE: rohiyTEnv.] stands evidently in parallelism with [HE: b.ot.Eynv.], and accordingly is of a similar import. Rashbam has therefore rightly rendered it [HE: 'Hd mbnyny hbyt], one of the apartments of the house. As however the house here described is a bower, [HE: rohiyT] would be an arbour. The etymology of the word is in keeping with this sense. [HE: rohoT], i.q. [HE: r^ehaT] = [HE: rv.x/], to run, to flow, hence [HE: rahaT], 1. a gutter, from the water running down, Gen. xxx. 38; 2. a curl, from its flowing down (vide infra, vii. 6), and 3. [HE: rohiyT], a place upon which one runs, a charming spot much frequented; just like [HE: S/v.q], a place where people run, a street, from [HE: S/v.q], to run. It is now pretty generally agreed that [HE: b.^ervOt], the Aram. for [HE: b.^ervOS/], is not the fir, but the cypress. It is quite natural that this lofty tree, which grows to a height of from fifty to sixty feet, of so hard and durable a nature, and so highly esteemed among the ancients, (Virg. Georg. ii. 443,) should be placed together with the majestic cedar. Comp. Sirach, xxiv. 13; Virg. Georg. ii. 44; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Rosenmüller, Bib. Miner. and Bot. p. 260; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s. v.
