Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 8:11-12

"Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; He let out the vineyard unto keepers; Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand [pieces] of silver. My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand, And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred." — Song Of Solomon 8:11-12 (ASV)

Solomon had a vineyard... — Here the poet repeats the sentiment of Song of Solomon 6:8–9 — the contrast of his love for one chosen bride with the state of feeling and morality fostered by polygamy. But while in the former passage the contrast lay in number only, here it lies also in the value which comes to be set on the possession. Any one member of Solomon's harem is no dearer to him than one of his many vineyards, which has to be cultivated by hirelings (perhaps with an allusion to the eunuchs who guard the harem), and is valued only for the return it yields. But the one wedded wife is a vineyard tended by the owner, loved for its own sake as well as valued.

A certain obscurity arises from the abrupt transition from simile to metaphor. Long similes, so common in classical poetry, are almost unknown in that of the Hebrews. Complete, the simile would have run, “As Solomon, who possesses so many vineyards, does not keep any one, even the choicest, in his own hands, but entrusts it to keepers and only enjoys an annual rent, so, with such a large and costly establishment of wives, he has none that is to him what my one, my sole possession, is to me.” But after the first member of it in Song of Solomon 8:11, he breaks abruptly into metaphor, so much more natural to him, “My vineyard,” etc. For the figure, compare to Song of Solomon 4:12–13.

Baal-hamon. — Many are the conjectures hazarded as to the locality of this place. It has been identified:

1. With Baal-gad, or Heliopolis (Rosenmüller);
2. With Hammon, a place in the tribe of Asher (Joshua 19:28, Ewald);
3. With Balamo (Septuagint Βεελαμων), a place mentioned in the Book of Judith , in connection with Dothaim, which (if the same as Dothan) has possibly been discovered to the south of the valley of Esdraelon — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 463 (1871). (Meier, Hitzig, etc.).

But no identification is necessary. If the poet had any definite place in his mind, he merely used it for the play on words (Baal-hamon = lord of multitude). The correct translation is “a vineyard was to Solomon as lord of a multitude.” The particle be often has this force. Exodus 6:3: “I appeared as God Almighty.” Compare to Proverbs 3:26; Isaiah 40:10; 1 Chronicles 9:33, and others. We further note that Baal, as lord with us, often means husband, and Baal-hamon has a covert allusion to the polygamy of the king.

A thousand pieces of silver. — Supply shekels. The substantives denoting weight, measure, or time are frequently omitted (Genesis 20:16). (Compare to Isaiah 7:23: a thousand silverlings, from which we see that it was customary to portion off vineyards into sections containing a certain number of vines.) For the worth of a shekel, see Genesis 23:15.