Song of Solomon 1:13

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) A bundle of myrrh.—The mention of perfumes leads the poet to a new adaptation of the language of flowers. For myrrh (Heb., môr), see Genesis 37:25. For various personal and domestic uses, see Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Proverbs 5:13. Ginsburg quotes from the Mischna to prove the custom, alluded to in the text, of wearing sachets, or bottles of myrrh, suspended from the neck. Tennyson’s exquisite little song in The Miller’s Daughter suggests itself as a comparison:—

“And I would be the necklace,

And all day long to fall and rise

Upon her balmy bosom

With her laughter or her sighs.

And I would lie so light, so light,

I scarce should be unclasped at night.”

Benson Commentary

Song of Solomon 1:13-14. A bundle of myrrh — Myrrh was ever reckoned among the best perfumes; shall lie, &c. — This phrase may denote the church’s intimate union with, and hearty affection to Christ. My beloved is as a cluster of camphire — We are not concerned to know exactly what this was; it being confessed that it was some grateful plant, and that it set forth that great delight which the church hath in the enjoyment of Christ; in the vineyards of Engedi — A pleasant and well-watered place in the tribe of Judah, where there were many pleasant plants.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:9-17 The Bridegroom gives high praises of his spouse. In the sight of Christ believers are the excellent of the earth, fitted to be instruments for promoting his glory. The spiritual gifts and graces which Christ bestows on every true believer, are described by the ornaments then in use, ver. 10,11. The graces of the saints are many, but there is dependence upon each other. He who is the Author, will be the Finisher of the good work. The grace received from Christ's fulness, springs forth into lively exercises of faith, affection, and gratitude. Yet Christ, not his gifts, is most precious to them. The word translated camphire, signifies atonement or propitiation. Christ is dear to all believers, because he is the propitiation for their sins. No pretender must have his place in the soul. They resolved to lodge him in their hearts all the night; during the continuance of the troubles of life. Christ takes delight in the good work which his grace has wrought on the souls of believers. This should engage all who are made holy, to be very thankful for that grace which has made those fair, who by nature were deformed. The spouse (the believer) has a humble, modest eye, discovering simplicity and godly sincerity; eyes enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit, that blessed Dove. The church expresses her value for Christ. Thou art the great Original, but I am but a faint and imperfect copy. Many are fair to look at, yet their temper renders them unpleasant: but Christ is fair, yet pleasant. The believer, ver. 16, speaks with praise of those holy ordinances in which true believers have fellowship with Christ. Whether the believer is in the courts of the Lord, or in retirement; whether following his daily labours, or confined on the bed of sickness, or even in a dungeon, a sense of the Divine presence will turn the place into a paradise. Thus the soul, daily having fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, enjoys a lively hope of an incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance above.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Render: A bag of myrrh is my beloved to me, which lodgeth in my bosom.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. bundle of myrrh—abundant preciousness (Greek), (1Pe 2:7). Even a little myrrh was costly; much more a bundle (Col 2:9). Burrowes takes it of a scent-box filled with liquid myrrh; the liquid obtained by incision gave the tree its chief value.

he—rather, "it"; it is the myrrh that lies in the bosom, as the cluster of camphire is in the vineyards (So 1:14).

all night—an undivided heart (Eph 3:17; contrast Jer 4:14; Eze 16:15, 30). Yet on account of the everlasting covenant, God restores the adulteress (Eze 16:60, 62; Ho 2:2, &c.). The night is the whole present dispensation till the everlasting day dawns (Ro 13:12). Also, literally, "night" (Ps 119:147, 148), the night of affliction (Ps 42:8).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

A bundle of myrrh; or, a bag of myrrh; in which there was a considerable quantity of the gum which droppeth from the myrrh tree. Myrrh is bitter to the taste, but sweet to the smell, and therefore was ever reckoned amongst the best perfumes. See Exodus 30:23 Psalm 45:8 John 19:39.

Is my Beloved unto me; he is most precious and comfortable to me, and the author of my sweet smell last mentioned.

Betwixt my breasts; in the place where bundles or bags of myrrh or other perfumes hang down, being fastened about their necks, which yet were taken away and laid aside by night. But the church intimates that she will not part with Christ, neither day nor night. Or this phrase may note the church’s intimate union with and hearty affection unto Christ.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

A bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto me,.... These are the words of the church continued; expressing her great delight in Christ, and her strong love and affection for him, and therefore calls him "my well beloved"; which is expressive both of the greatness of Christ's love to her, and of the strength of her affection to him, as well as of her faith of interest in him; hence she says, he was as "a bundle of myrrh" to her. Some think (n) sweet marjoram is meant, or an herb of a sweet smell, very much like it, called "marum"; but myrrh is commonly understood; and not twigs or branches of it but sprigs, or the flowers of it, bound up as a nosegay, and carried in the bosom; or better, liquid myrrh, or "stacte", as the Septuagint render it, put in a bag (o) or bottle, as the word is rendered, Job 14:7; the allusion being to persons that carry smelling bottles in their bosoms, for refreshment or for pleasure. Now what these were to such, that, and much more, is Christ to his church; like sweet smelling myrrh, exceeding delightful and reviving, and make him very acceptable; his very garments smell of myrrh: and "a bundle" of this, or a bag of it, denotes the abundance of the odours of divine grace in Christ, who is full of it, which he communicates in great plenty: and now Christ is all this, not to any and everyone; but to his church and people, to whom alone he is precious, "my beloved is unto me"; which expresses not only the strength of her affection to Christ, and the value she had for him, and the delight she had in him; but the particular application of him to her own soul by faith;

he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts; "it" or "he"; the bundle of myrrh, or Christ, which comes to the same sense: by her "breasts" are meant her heart, where Christ dwells by faith, which is the best room the church has, and where she desires Christ might lodge; so Alshech explains it of being in her heart: and the time in which she would have him continue here is "all night"; meaning the night of affliction, temptation, &c. or rather the whole time of this life, until the everlasting day breaks; and so it is a desire of Christ's presence with her, and of her having communion with him, as long as she lived in the world; and between her breasts, and in her bosom she desires he might be for an ornament to her, like sweet flowers, and for her delight and pleasure, refreshment and comfort; and that he might be always in her sight, and never be forgotten by her.

(n) Vid. Fortunat. Schace. Eleochrism. Sacr. I. 1, c. 51. p. 256, 257. (o) "folliculus", Cocceius; "sacculum", Marckius; "fasciculus, vel sacculus", Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved to me; he shall lie all night between my {s} breasts.

(s) He will be most dear to me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. A bundle] From Isaiah 3:20 we learn that Israelite women were accustomed to carry perfume boxes. The bundle of myrrh here would seem to be something of that kind, probably a small bag with myrrh resin in it.

myrrh] Heb. môr. It is the Balsamodendron myrrha of botanists, a low, thorny, ragged-looking tree, something like an acacia. It is found in Arabia Felix. “A viscid white liquid oozes from the bark when punctured, which rapidly hardens when exposed to the air, and becomes a sort of gum, which in this simple state is the myrrh of commerce. The wood and bark emit a pungent aromatic odour.” Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 365.

he shall lie all night] Rather, as R.V., that lieth. The clause is the ordinary relative sentence with the relative pron. suppressed, by which the attributive participle in English is expressed in Heb., and the translation should be, a bundle of myrrh lying all night between my breasts is my love to me, i.e. the thought of him abides with her and refreshes her heart as a perfume bag of myrrh would do. Cp. Shelley,

“Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,

Are heaped for the beloved’s bed,

And so thy thoughts when thou art gone

Love itself shall slumber on.”

The translation of the A.V. is refuted by the parallelism. In the second half of Song of Solomon 1:14, in the vineyards of En-gedi is an attribute of the cluster of henna-flowers, and so in Song of Solomon 1:13, lying between my breasts is an attribute of the bundle of myrrh.

Song of Solomon 1:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

13 A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me,

     Which lieth between by breasts.

14 A bunch of cypress-flowers is my beloved to me,

     From the vine-gardens of Engedi.

Most interpreters, ignoring the lessons of botany, explain Sol 1:13 of a little bunch of myrrh; but whence could Shulamith obtain this? Myrrh, מר (מרר, to move oneself in a horizontal direction hither and thither, or gradually to advance; of a fluid, to flow over the plain),

(Note: Vid., Schlotmann in the Stud. u. Krit. (1867), p. 217.)

belongs, like the frankincense, to the amyrids, which are also exotics

(Note: They came from Arabia and India; the better Arabian was adulterated with Indian myrrh.)

in Palestine; and that which is aromatic in the Balsamodendron myrrha are the leaves and flowers, but the resin (Gummi myrrhae, or merely myrrha) cannot be tied in a bunch. Thus the myrrh here can be understood in no other way than as at Sol 5:5; in general צרור, according to Hitzig's correct remark, properly denotes not what one binds up together, but what one ties up - thus sacculus, a little bag. It is not supposed that she carried such a little bag with her (cf. Isaiah 3:20), or a box of frankincense (Luth. musk-apple); but she compares her beloved to a myrrh-repository, which day and night departs not from her bosom, and penetrates her inwardly with its heart-strengthening aroma. So constantly does she think of him, and so delightful is it for her to dare to think of him as her beloved.

The 14th verse presents the same thought. כּפר is the cypress-cluster or the cypress-flowers, κύπρος (according to Frst, from כפר equals עפר, to be whitish, from the colour of the yellow-white flowers), which botanists call Lawsonia, and in the East Alḥennā; its leaves yield the orange colour with which the Moslem women stain

(Note: Vid., the literature of this subject in Defrmery's notice of Dozy-Engelmann's work in the Revue Critique, III 2 (1868), p. 408.)

their hands and feet. אשׁכּל (from שׁכל, to interweave) denotes that which is woven, tresses, or a cluster or garland of their flowers. Here also we have not to suppose that Shulamith carried a bunch of flowers; in her imagination she places herself in the vine-gardens which Solomon had planted on the hill-terraces of Engedi lying on the west of the Dead Sea (Ecclesiastes 2:4), and chooses a cluster of flowers of the cypress growing in that tropical climate, and says that her beloved is to her internally what such a cluster of cypress-flowers would be to her externally. To be able to call him her beloved is her ornament; and to think of him refreshes her like the most fragrant flowers.