SongSol 2:1-6, comments on text

[Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>]

       NYC and Long Island are being punished for their many sins by heavy 
snow upon heavy snow, with interludes of sleet and ice in between, and 
tomorrow is the next one (number twelve this year, for those fond of biblical 
numerology).  But since school will be wiped out once more tomorrow, I have 
time to compile some information on Song of Solomon (title in text, "The Song 
of Songs, which is Solomon's," 1: 1).  First the relevant passage, as 
translated for the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version).  Modern literary 
study recognizes it as part of an extended dialogue; I mark for this, and 
adapt the notes of the New Jerome Biblical Commentary:

[Bride]                                        
                                               
2:1  I am a rose of Sharon,                    She compares herself to 
     a lily of the valleys.                    ordinary flowers of the plain 
                                               (narcissus, lotus);
[Bridegroom]                                   
                                               
  2  As a lily among brambles,                 he turns the comparison into a 
     so is my love among maidens.              compliment.
                                               
[Bride]                                        
                                               
  3  As an apple tree among the trees of the   She returns the compliment with 
   wood,                                       a comparison in his favor, 
     so is my beloved among young men.         addressing him in the 3rd pers.
     With great delight I sat in his shadow,   She develops the metaphor of 
     and his fruit was sweet to my taste.      the apple tree in order to show
  4  He brought me to the banqueting house,    the delights of his love.  The 
     and his intention toward me was love.     meaning of the 'house' (lit.  
  5  Sustain me with raisins,                  "house of wine") and the 
      refresh me with apples,                  'intention toward me' (lit.  
      for I am faint with love.                'emblem over me,' or "banner 
  6  O that his left hand were under my head,  over me" [King James] is 
    and that his right hand embrace me!        uncertain.
                                               
                                               
COMMENTS BY VERSE:

2:1.   Most English versions have followed the KJV (King James Version) 
       identifying the first flower as a "rose" of Sharon.  The reference is 
       to a common wildflower of the plains of Sharon whose Hebrew name is now 
       seen as identifying the crocus or narcissus, but which was translated 
       into the Greek of the LXX as _anthos_ = Vulgate _flos_ = 'rose'.  The 
       "lily of the valley" is the red Palestinian anenome, cf. Mt. 6:28.  In 
       the dialogue, the point is that both are wild and common--which her 
       lover transforms into a compliment.  In traditional allegory, they are 
       taken to be symbolic of spring and the eschatological age (cf. Is. 35:1 
       and Ho 14:6).

2:3b   The KJV and later translations in its tradition (RSV, NRSV) follow the 
       LXX and Vulgate in using past tense ("sat in his shadow," "was sweet to 
       my taste").  The Hebrew original uses present continuative ("I am 
       seated," "is sweet"), as reflected in the Jerusalem Bible and the New 
       English Bible.
 
2:4    Literally, he has brought her to the "house of wine," and the phrase is 
       preserved in both the LXX and Vulgate.  In allegorical tradition, the 
       image is assimilated to one of the most important images of the 
       messianic time (cf. Is 62:8, Jr 31:12, John 2:1-11).  The KJV 
       "banquetting house," followed by virtually all English versions, is 
       plainly euphemistic.  But KJV does better with 4b, "his banner over me 
       was love," which translates the more accurate LXX "taxate ep' eme 
       agapen" instead of the euphemistic Vulgate "ordinavit in me caritatem", 
       on which the NRSV above is based.  The word for 'banner' is also 
       translated 'emblem' or 'signal' and can, as usual, be taken as an 
       eschatological symbol (cf. Is. 11:12, 49:22, 62:10).  If one refuses to 
       wander away from the plain and concrete context of the poetic lovers' 
       dialogue ("Don't want your bullshit, just want your sexuality"), 
       however, the reference of the term is not in the slightest bit 
       uncertain.

2:5b   Whether to translate the phrase here as "sick with love" or "faint with 
       love" is in one sense optional, since the Greek "tetromene agapes ego" 
       and Latin "amore langueo" could go either way, but given the pungency 
       of the term 'lovesick' I would go with "sick."  More sticky is how to 
       construe the fact that the Greek phrase says literally, "I:  sick of 
       love," using the genitive 'of love' with the same ambiguity that the 
       KJV preserves with its translation, "for I am sick of love."  My strong 
       sense is that this is what is called subjective genitive in grammar, 
       brought out correctly as 'sick with love', not 'sick of love' in the 
       sense of tired of it.

       But I have no Hebrew text to consult, and if I did I couldn't do 
anything with it, since I got a D- in Hebrew in graduate school.  None of my 
references at hand comment on the phrase, other than to use the term 
'lovesick' for it.  I have colleagues with whom I could pursue the point, but 
for our purposes I think that Kate's use of the phrase as "sick of love" in 
her lyric establishes that she referred to the King James Version.  Let me 
sign off therefore by quoting the passage in that ever-influential version:

       I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
       As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
       As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among 
the sons.  I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was 
sweet to my taste.
       He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. 
       Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love.
       His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

............................................................................
                                                            Peter Manchester
    "Hear a woman singing"                     pmanchester@ccmail.sunysb.edu
                                                    72020.366@compuserve.com