Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 4:8

"Come with me from Lebanon, [my] bride, With me from Lebanon: Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions` dens, From the mountains of the leopards." — Song Of Solomon 4:8 (ASV)

Come with me—better, to me. The Septuagint has here; so too the Vulgate and Luther, reading athî (imperative of athah) instead of ittî = with me, or more properly, as regards me. This reading, which involves only a difference of vowel points, is to be preferred. Here we have another reminder of the obstacles that had accompanied the union of the pair, presented under a different figure. The course of true love, which has never yet, in East or West, run smooth, is beset here by tremendous difficulties. These are symbolized by the rocks and snows of the Lebanon range, which enclosed the poet’s northern home, and by the wild beasts that haunted these regions. Like Tennyson’s shepherd, he believes that “love is of the valleys,” and calls to her to come down to him from her inaccessible heights.

The word Shûr, translated in the English Version as look, properly has its primitive meaning, come, in the Septuagint. To suppose a literal journey to these peaks of the mountain chain one after another, as some do, is absurd. They are named as emblems of height and difficulty. Shenîr (Senir, 1 Chronicles 5:23) is one of the peaks of Hermon. Amana has been conjectured to be a name for the district of Anti-Libanus where the Abana (Barada) has its source, but nothing is certain about it. The appellative spouse first occurs in this verse.

In Hebrew, it is khallah. This word is translated in the Authorised Version as “daughter-in-law,” “bride,” or “spouse.” The specific translation depends on whether the relationship, now complete through marriage, is viewed from the perspective of the bridegroom’s parents or from his own.

For instance, as daughter-in-law, it appears in Genesis 11:31, Genesis 38:11, Leviticus 20:22, Micah 7:6, and other places. As bride, it is found in Isaiah 49:18, Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 62:5, and elsewhere.

The use of spouse here does not by itself prove that the pair were united in marriage. This is because in the next verse, the word sister is joined to spouse, suggesting it might simply be a stronger term of endearment. In any case, when placed in the lover’s mouth while he describes the difficulties hindering their union, the term spouse is proleptic.

However, its presence strongly confirms the impression given by the whole poem: that it repeatedly describes the courtship and marriage of the same couple.

For lion, see Genesis 49:9. The leopard was formerly very common in Palestine, as the name Bethnimrah (i.e., house of leopards, Numbers 32:36) shows. (Compare Jeremiah 5:6, Hosea 13:7.) Nor is it rare now. “In the forest of Gilead it is still so numerous as to be a pest to the herdsmen” (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bibl., p. 113).

The Septuagint translates amana as πίστις, and this has been turned into an argument for the allegorical treatment of the book. But it is a very common error of the Septuagint to translate proper names. (Compare Song of Solomon 6:4.)