Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 6:11-13

"I went down into the garden of nuts, To see the green plants of the valley, To see whether the vine budded, [And] the pomegranates were in flower. Before I was aware, my soul set me [Among] the chariots of my princely people. Return, return, O Shulammite; Return, return, that we may look upon thee. Why will ye look upon the Shulammite, As upon the dance of Mahanaim?" — Song Of Solomon 6:11-13 (ASV)

EXCURSUS III.—ON THE PASSAGE,Song of Solomon 6:11–13.

Translated word for word this passage runs as follows: “Into the garden of nuts I descended to see the vegetation of the valley, to see if the vine was budding, if the pomegranates flourished. I did not know,—my soul,—put me,—chariots of my people—noble. Come back, come back the Shulamite. Come back, come back, so that we may see you. What do you see in Shulamite? Like the dance of two camps.”

The Septuagint translates this as: “Into the garden of nuts I descended to see among the vegetation of the torrent bed, to see if the vine flourished, if the pomegranate sprouted, there I will give you my breasts. My soul did not know, the chariots of Amminadab put me—return, return, Shunamite, return, return, and we will contemplate you. What will you see in the Shunamite? She who comes like choruses of the camps.”

The Vulgate does not insert the promise of love, and reads: “and I did not know, my soul troubled me on account of the four-horsed chariots of Amminadab. Return, return, Shulamite, that we may look at you. What will you see in the Shulamite; if not the chorus of camps.”

A comparison of the above seems to show:

1. That the Hebrew text has not come down to us in its integrity.
2. That the Greek translators had before their eyes another text.
3. That neither they nor St. Jerome understood the text which came to them already incomplete.

Yet this impossible passage, “the rags of a text irremediably corrupt,” has become for many scholars the key to the entire book. The heroine in a moment of bewilderment strays into the midst of a procession of King Solomon, who instantly falls in love with her; or perhaps into the midst of a detachment of his troops, who capture her for the royal harem, after a comparison of her simple country style of dancing with that of the trained court ladies.

This, or some similar device, is resorted to by most of those who construct an elaborate drama out of this series of love-lyrics. The whole structure falls to pieces when we see that on this, the centre, the only passage giving a possible incident on which to hang the rest, no reliance whatever can be placed, since it is so obviously corrupt.

The following are a few of various suggested translations of this piece:

• “My heart led me—I know not how—far from the troop of my noble people. Come back, come back, they cry, that we may see you, Shulamite. What do you see in me, a poor Shulamite?”
• “My desire made of me, so to speak, a chariot of my noble people,” etc.
• “My desire brought me to a chariot, a noble one,” etc.
• “Suddenly I was seized with fright,—chariots of my people the Prince!”

As to “the dance of Mahanaim,” even if by itself intelligible, as a reference to an old national dance, as we say “Polonaise,” “Scotch dance,” or as a dance performed by two choirs or bands (see Note ad loc.), the connection with the context is almost inexplicable.

The only suggestion which seems worthy of consideration connects the words not with what precedes but with what immediately follows. If a word or words leading to the comparison, “like,” etc., have dropped out, or if “like a dance of Mahanaim” may be taken as a kind of stage direction to introduce the choric scene, the passage will become clear in the light thrown on it by the analogy of the modern Syrian marriage customs.

The question, “What do you see in Shulamite?” may be understood as a challenge to the poet to sing the customary “wasf” or eulogy on the bride’s beauty, which accordingly follows in the next chapter.

But before it began, a dance after the manner of the sword dance that currently forms a customary part of a Syrian wedding would then be performed, and the words “(dance) like the dance of Mahanaim” would be a direction for its performance. See end of Excursus II. on the form of the Poem.

I went down into the garden ... —For a discussion on this obscure passage in its entirety, see Excursus III.

Nuts. —Hebrew egôz; only here. (Compare Arabic ghaus = the walnut, which is currently extensively cultivated in Palestine.)

Fruits. —Hebrew ebi=green shoots; Septuagint ἐν γεννήμαι.

Valley. —Hebrew nachal; Septuagint, literally, χειμάρρου, the torrent-bed. It is the Hebrew equivalent of the Arabic wady. Here the Septuagint insert, “There I will give you my breasts”; reading, as in Song of Solomon 1:2, dadaï (breasts) for dôdaï (caresses).

Or ever I was aware. —Margin, I knew not; Hebrew Lo yadahti, which is used adverbially (Psalms 35:8), “at unawares.” (Jeremiah 50:24.) The Septuagint read, “my spirit did not know.”

Made me like ...—Margin, set me on the chariots; but literally, according to the present Hebrew text, set me chariots, etc.

Ammi-nadib. —Margin, of my willing people, as though the reading were ammî hanadib, since the article should be present after a noun with a suffix. For ammî = my fellow citizens, compare Genesis 23:11; Lamentations 2:11. A better interpretation, instead of taking the yod as the suffix my, treats it as an old genitival ending, and renders, companions of a prince. But this does not make the passage more intelligible.

O Shulamite. —Hebrew hashulammît. This vocative, with the article, indicates a Gentile name rather than a proper name (Ges., § 108, English Translation), and no doubt the Septuagint, ἡ ἐρχομένη, “the Shunamite”—that is, maiden of Shunem—is correct.

Shunem was discovered by Robinson in Sôlam, a village on the slope at the western end of Little Hermon (Dûhy). This location meets all the requirements of Shunem mentioned in 1 Samuel 28:4 and 2 Kings 4:8 . With a slight correction regarding distance, it also aligns with the Sulem that Eusebius (Onomasticon) and Jerome identify with Sunem.

For the interchange of n and l, compare Zerin—Jezreel; Beitun = Bethel; lachats = nachats, to burn.

The fact that Abishag was a Shunamite, and that Adonijah sought her in marriage (1 Kings 1:3), has given rise to the conjecture that these two are the heroine and hero of this poem.

From a comparison with Song of Solomon 8:10, “then was I in his eyes as one that found favour” (Hebrew shalôm, peace), arises the untenable theory that Shulamite is a feminine of Solomon (meaning, the graceful one): untenable, because the feminine of Shelomah would be Shelomît.

As it were the company of two armies. —Margin, of Mahanaim; Septuagint, “she coming like dances of the camps;” Vulgate, “unless dances of camps;” Hebrew khimcholath hammachanaim. Mecholath is the feminine of machol, which (see Smith’s Biblical Dictionary, under “Dance”) is supposed to be properly a musical instrument of percussion.

The Septuagint generally translates it, as here, χορός; but in Psalm 32:11 (Hebrews 10:12) χαρά, joy; Jeremiah 31:4 and Jeremiah 31:14, συναγωγή, assembly. In Psalm 149:3 and Psalm 150:4, the Margin suggests pipe instead of dance; and many scholars derive it from chal = to bore (compare chalil, a flute). (See Bible Educator, Volume II, page 70.) Its associated meaning would naturally be dance.

Machanaim is either a regular dual = of two camps, or there is some reference, which we cannot recover, to local customs at the place of that name. To see any connection between this passage and Genesis 32:2, and still more to think of angelic dances, borders on the absurd. But the connection between military sports and dancing has always been close in the East, and the custom that currently exists of performing a sword-dance at weddings possibly gives the clue to this curious passage.

Some conjectural interpretations will be found in the Excursus, but the whole passage is hopelessly obscure.