Chapter 4 Verse 1. Verse 2. Verse 3. Verse 4. Verse 5.

CHAPTER 4

Verse 1. Behold, thou art fair, &c.] And in that day King Solomon offered up a {a} thousand burnt-offerings upon the altar, and his offerings were graciously accepted by the Lord. Bath Kol {b} went forth from heaven; and thus it said, How fair art thou, O congregation of Israel, and how fair are the princes of the congregation and the wise men, {c} who sit in the sanhedrin, who enlighten {d} the world; the people of the house of Israel, and are like to young doves; yea, even the rest of the children of thy congregation; and the people of the earth are righteous, as the sons of Jacob, {e} who gathered stones, and made a heap thereof on the mount of Gilead!

Verse 2. Thy teeth are like, &c.] How fair are the priests and Levites, who offer up thine offerings, and eat the holy flesh, and the tithes, and the offering of fruits; and are pure from all oppression and rapine, even as clean as Jacob’s flocks of sheep when they were shorn, and came up from the brook {f} Jabok, among whom there was no oppression or rapine, and they are all of them like to one another, and always bear twins; neither is any barren, or that miscarrieth among them.

Verse 3. Thy lips are like a thread, &c.] And the lips of the high priest inquire in prayer, on the day of atonement, before the Lord; and his words turn the transgressions of Israel, which are like to a thread of scarlet, and make them white {g} as pure wool; and the king, who is their head, is full of the commandments, as a pomegranate; besides the {h} Amarcalin and {i} Archonin, who are next the king, who are righteous; neither is there any iniquity in them.

Verse 4. Thy neck is like the tower, &c.] And the head of the school, who is thy master, is powerful in righteousness, and mighty in good works, as David king of Israel, by the word of whose mouth the world is restored, who in the doctrine of the law employs himself; in which the people of the house of Israel placing their confidence, overcome in war, as if they held in their hands all kinds of warlike instruments of mighty men. Verse 5. Thy two breasts, &c.] Thy two Redeemers which shall redeem thee; {k} Messiah the son of David, and Messiah the son of Ephraim, are like to Moses and Aaron, the sons of Jochebed, who may be compared to young roes that are twins; who by their righteousness fed the people of the house of Israel forty years in the wilderness with manna, and with fatted fowls, and water of {l} the well of Miriam.

Verse 6. Until the day break, &c.] And all the time that the house of Israel held fast in their hands the religion of their righteous fathers, they drove away those noxious spirits that walk in the night-time, or in the morning, or at noonday; because that the shechinah of the glory of the Lord dwelt in the house of the sanctuary, which was built on Mount Moriah; for all the noxious and destroying spirits fled at the smell of the sweet incense.

Verse 7. Thou art all fair, &c.] And when thy people, the house of Israel do the will of the Lord of the world, he praises them in the highest heavens; and thus he saith, Thou art all fair, O congregation of Israel, and there is no {m} spot in thee.

Verse 8. Come with me from Lebanon, &c.] The Lord said by his word, Dwell with me, O congregation of Israel, who art like to a modest {n} damsel, and go up with me to the house of the sanctuary, where the heads of the people, which dwell by the river of {o} Amana, and the inhabitants that reside on the top of Mount {p} Talga, and the people which are in Hermon, shall bring gifts unto thee, and they that inhabit the strong fortified cities, which are as powerful as lions, shall pay tribute to thee; yea, an offering shalt be brought from the cities of the mountains, which are mightier than the leopards.

Verse 9. Thou hast ravished my heart, &c.] Fixed upon the {q} table of my heart is thy love, O my sister, the congregation of Israel, who art like to a modest damsel; fixed upon the table of my heart is the love of the least of thy children, who is righteous as one of the great men of the sanhedrin, as one of the kings {r} of the house of Judah, on whose neck the crown of the kingdom is put.

Verse 10. How fair is thy love, &c.] How fair is thy love to me, my sister, the congregation of Israel, who art like to a modest damsel! How excellent is thy love to me, more than the {s} seventy nations; and the good {t} report of thy righteous ones is more excellent than all spices!

Verse 11. Thy lips, O my spouse, &c.] And when the priests pray in the holy court, their lips drop as the honey-comb; and so does thy tongue, O thou modest damsel, when thou deliverest songs and hymns, sweet as milk