---
title: "Song of Solomon 1 - Study King James Bible with keil and delitzsch old testament commentary"
description: "Read Song of Solomon 1 with keil and delitzsch old testament commentary commentary. 1 The song of songs, which is Solomon’s. 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. 3 Because of the savour of thy"
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url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/song-of-solomon/1"
---

[ Read](/kjv/song-of-solomon/1)[ Commentary](/study/song-of-solomon/1)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/song-of-solomon/1) Audio

 1 The song of songs, which *is* Solomon’s.

 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love *is* better than wine.*

 3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name *is as* ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

 4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.*

 5 I *am* black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

 6 Look not upon me, because I *am* black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; *but* mine own vineyard have I not kept.

 7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest *thy flock* to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?*

 8 ¶ If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

 9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.

 10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows *of jewels*, thy neck with chains *of gold*.

 11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

 12 ¶ While the king *sitteth* at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

 13 A bundle of myrrh *is* my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.

 14 My beloved *is* unto me *as* a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.*

 15 Behold, thou *art* fair, my love; behold, thou *art* fair; thou *hast* doves’ eyes.*

 16 Behold, thou *art* fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed *is* green.

 17 The beams of our house *are* cedar, *and* our rafters of fir.*
 
[Ecclesiastes 12](/study/ecclesiastes/12) [Song of Solomon 2](/study/song-of-solomon/2)

## Commentary

 To verse 1
 
The title of the book at once denotes that it is a connected whole, and is the work of one author. - [Song of Solomon 1:1](/kjv/song-of-solomon/1/1). *The Song of Songs, composed by Solomon*. The genitival connection, “Song of Songs,” cannot here signify the Song consisting of a number of songs, any more than calling the Bible “The Book of books” leads us to think of the 24 + 27 canonical books of which it consists. Nor can it mean “one of Solomon's songs;” the title, as it here stands, would then be the paraphrase of שׁיר שׁירי שׁ , chosen for the purpose of avoiding the redoubled genitives; but “one of the songs” must rather have been expressed by שׁיר משּׁירי . It has already been rightly explained in the Midrash: 

(Note: *Vid*., Fürst's *Der Kanon des A. T*. (1868), p. 86.) 

“the most praiseworthy, most excellent, most highly-treasured among the songs.” The connection is superl. according to the sense (cf. ἄῤῥητα ἀῤῥήτων of Sophocles), and signifies that song which, as such, surpasses the songs one and all of them; as “servant of servants,” [Genesis 9:25](/kjv/genesis/9/25), denotes a servant who is such more than all servants together. The plur. of the second word is for this superl. sense indispensable (*vid*., Dietrich's *Abhand. zur hebr. Gramm*. p. 12), but the article is not necessary: it is regularly wanting where the complex idea takes the place of the predicate, [Genesis 9:25](/kjv/genesis/9/25); [Exodus 29:37](/kjv/exodus/29/37), or of the inner member of a genitival connection of words, [Jeremiah 3:19](/kjv/jeremiah/3/19); but it is also wanting in other places, as [Ezekiel 16:7](/kjv/ezekiel/16/7) and [Ecclesiastes 1:2](/kjv/ecclesiastes/1/2); [Ecclesiastes 12:8](/kjv/ecclesiastes/12/8), where the indeterminate plur. denotes not totality, but an unlimited number; here it was necessary, because a definite Song - that, namely, lying before us - must be designated as the paragon of songs. The relative clause, “ asher lishlōmō ,” does not refer to the single word “Songs” (Gr. Venet. τῶν τοῦ ), as it would if the expression were שׁיר מהשּׁ , but to the whole idea of “the Song of Songs.” A relative clause of similar formation and reference occurs at [1 Kings 4:2](/kjv/1-kings/4/2): “These are the princes, asher lo , which belonged to him (Solomon).” They who deny the Solomonic authorship usually explain: The Song of Songs which concerns or refers to Solomon, and point in favour of this interpretation to lxx B. ὃ ἐστι Σαλ ., which, however, is only a latent genit., for which lxx A. τῷ Σαλ . *Lamed* may indeed introduce the reference of a writing, as at [Jeremiah 23:9](/kjv/jeremiah/23/9); but if the writing is more closely designated as a “Song,” “Psalm,” and the like, then *Lamed* with the name of a person foll. is always the *Lamed auctoris*; in this case the idea of reference to, as *e.g.*, at [Isaiah 1:1](/kjv/isaiah/1/1), cf. [1 Kings 5:13](/kjv/1-kings/5/13), is unequivocally expressed by על . We shall find that the dramatized history which we have here, or as we might also say, the fable of the melodrama and its dress, altogether correspond with the traits of character, the favourite turns, the sphere of vision, and the otherwise well-known style of authorship peculiar to Solomon. We may even suppose that the superscription was written by the author, and thus by Solomon himself. For in the superscription of the Proverbs he is surnamed “son of David, king of Israel,” and similarly in Ecclesiastes. But he who entitles him merely “Solomon” is most probably himself. On the other hand, that the title is by the author himself, is not favoured by the fact that instead of the שׁ , everywhere else used in the book, the fuller form asher is employed. There is the same reason for this as for the fact that Jeremiah in his prophecies always uses *asher*, but in the Lamentations interchanges שׁ with asher. This original demonstrative שׁ is old-Canaanitish, as the Phoenician אש , arrested half-way toward the form *asher*, shows. 

(Note: From this it is supposed that *asher* is a pronom. root-cluster equivalent to אשׁל . Fleischer, on the contrary, sees in asher an original substantive athar = (Arab.) ithr , Assyr. asar , track, place, as when the vulgar expression is used, “The man where (*wo* instead of *welcher*) has said.”) 

In the Book of Kings it appears as a North Palest. provincialism, to the prose of the pre-exilian literature it is otherwise foreign; 

(Note: We do not take into view here [Genesis 6:3](/kjv/genesis/6/3). If בּשׁגם is then to be read, then there is in it the pronominal שׁ , as in the old proper name Mishael (who is what God is?).) 

but the pre-exilian shir and kinah (cf. also [Job 19:29](/kjv/job/19/29)) make use of it as an ornament. In the post-exilian literature it occurs in poetry ([Psalms 122:3](/kjv/psalms/122/3), etc.) and in prose ([1 Chronicles 5:20](/kjv/1-chronicles/5/20); [1 Chronicles 27:27](/kjv/1-chronicles/27/27)); in Ecclesiastes it is already a component part of the rabbinism in full growth. In a pre-exilian book-title שׁ in place of asher is thus not to be expected. On the other hand, in the Song itself it is no sign of a post-exilian composition, as Grätz supposes. The history of the language and literature refutes this.

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