John Gill Commentary Song Of Solomon 8:4

"I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, That ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, Until he please." — Song Of Solomon 8:4 (ASV)

I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up ,
nor awake [my] love, until he please .
] The phrase, "by the roes [and] by the hinds of the field", used in (Song of Solomon 2:7) (3:5) ; is here omitted; not as if the charge was less vehement and earnest here, for the form of expostulation seems rather to express more earnestness: for the words may be rendered, "why will you", or "why should you stir up, and why awake my love?" ^F9 being apprehensive they were about to do it; and which she dissuades from, as unreasonable and dangerous, and might be prejudicial to them as well as to her.

The allusion is to virgins, that sung songs at marriages; one in the evening, lulling to sleep; and another in the morning, awaking and stirring up from it ^F11 .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F9: (hm) , "cur", Montanus, Schmidt.
• F11: Vid. Theocrit. Idyll. 18.