Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds. (Song of Songs 1:7-8)
The Dark Lady asks her friends where their shepherds rest at mid-day.
It is unanswerable. None can know where the sheep and shepherds might be on any particular day. She is told to follow the tracks.
The reference to being as a veiled woman - or rather to be unveiled - is especially enigmatic. The Hebrew 'atah appears seventeen times in scripture. Only here is it translated as veiled.
The more common translation is to be wrapped or covered. In Psalm 104 we read, "Covering yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain."
In Isaiah we read, "The Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And he is about to grasp you firmly and roll you tightly like a ball." (Isaiah 22: 17) 'Atah is "grasp you firmly."
The Beloved seeks to be unveiled, uncovered, unencumbered not only with her friends but even with the servants of her friends.
Above in the center is the Crucified Christ with a wise Virgin climbing up the Cross and the Virgin and Child at the foot of the Cross. On the left, the Child Christ passes a wreath to one of the three Wise Virgins who hold lamps. In the upper left, a Wise Virgin is helped up to Heaven by a figure of Christ leaning down from the clouds. On the right, the Foolish Virgins hold their lamps upside down and fall into the mouth of Hell. From the Rothschild Canticles (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University).
The Dark Lady asks her friends where their shepherds rest at mid-day.
It is unanswerable. None can know where the sheep and shepherds might be on any particular day. She is told to follow the tracks.
The reference to being as a veiled woman - or rather to be unveiled - is especially enigmatic. The Hebrew 'atah appears seventeen times in scripture. Only here is it translated as veiled.
The more common translation is to be wrapped or covered. In Psalm 104 we read, "Covering yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain."
In Isaiah we read, "The Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And he is about to grasp you firmly and roll you tightly like a ball." (Isaiah 22: 17) 'Atah is "grasp you firmly."
The Beloved seeks to be unveiled, uncovered, unencumbered not only with her friends but even with the servants of her friends.
Above in the center is the Crucified Christ with a wise Virgin climbing up the Cross and the Virgin and Child at the foot of the Cross. On the left, the Child Christ passes a wreath to one of the three Wise Virgins who hold lamps. In the upper left, a Wise Virgin is helped up to Heaven by a figure of Christ leaning down from the clouds. On the right, the Foolish Virgins hold their lamps upside down and fall into the mouth of Hell. From the Rothschild Canticles (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University).
No comments:
Post a Comment