Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:

Song of Solomon 4:7 “Thou art all fair my love; there is no spot in thee.”

I find this passage very interesting when it comes to seeing how translators handle it.  In verse 8 we find that for the first time Solomon refers to his beloved as his spouse or his wife. They are now at the very height of their romance.  Their love for each other is at it’s peak, they are ready to declare a relationship that they will share with no other human and what does Solomon say in verse 7?  “Thou art all fair my love.”  Some translations at least say: “You are all beautiful my darling.”   That might get the violins playing.  Young’s Literal Translation says:  “Thou are all fair my friend.”

Let’s hold that thought.   I have people all the time asking me what the “literal translation” of something is.   There seems to be the impression that translators sugar coat renderings with all sorts of flowery words to express a thought and some people feel that if we just give the bare bones literal translation we are going to somehow come into some truth.

The truth is that most of the time you get a literal rendering you are getting a word pulled out of Strong’s Concordance or from a lexicon.  It is the safe rendering, the one that has been accepted throughout the generations and stood the test of time.  You are taking no chances with a literal rendering.   That may work in some cases, but when dealing with poetry or the expression of strong emotions, as we find in the Song of Solomon,  we find that a literal translation will not express the true intent of the writer.

The word “fair” in Hebrew is  “Yapah.”  It is spelled Yod Pe Hei and means fair or beautiful.  However, in extra Biblical literature yapah is often used to express something that is so beautiful, so splendorous, that it is flawless. It is a word used when looking at a beautiful sunset, or looking out over the Grand Canyon.  It is uttered when you are breathless over something very beautiful that you just utter one word: “Yapah.”   Give me an English word that fits that.

Right now I am looking outside.  It is 4:22 PM according to my watch.  In a few minutes an asteroid will pass within a couple hundred thousand miles of the earth. I  try to imagine if I were in another part of the world where it is dark and the sky is not dimmed by the lights of the cities.  I have the right equipment and in a few minutes I will see a “Yapah.”  I will see a heavenly body pass through the skies, with numberless stars in the back ground cheering the asteroid on.    This is the closest to the meaning of Yapah that we can get.  The Yod in the word expresses something heavenly and the  Pe expresses a declaration of what will follow.  What follows is the Hei, something created by God and whatever is created by God is beautiful and in harmony with Him.   Solomon precedes the word “yapah” with the  word “kalak” which means “all.”    In other words Solomon is saying that his beloved is the ultimate beauty of God’s creation.

Then he follows this by saying: “My love.”  Oh, come on, Solomon is more romantic than that.   The word in the Hebrew used here is not  the word “love.”   Some translations use the word “darling.”   Again the Hebrew word does not mean this, but you are not wrong to use it, if you happen to be some stuffy, bookworm of a professor who hasn’t read Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 20 years and that is the best you can come up with.

You see the word in the Hebrew used here is “ra’ah.”   The is the same word that is usually rendered as evil.  It is also rendered as “shepherd” or “friend.”   Translators know Solomon is not calling his beloved a shepherd or friend, so just by context they embellish it enough to mean “my darling” or “my love.”

What is ignored is the play on words.  He is saying:  “You are the ultimate in beauty my little evil one.”   Of course he does not mean she is evil, in a negative way, but evil in distracting him, evil in causing him to neglect his duties, and obligations because she is so beautiful and distracting.

There are a number of different words used in Hebrew for “evil.”   These is an evil of hunger, an evil of fear or terror, etc.   Ra’ah is an evil of consumption.  Someone can be so consumed by a desire for  wealth that he will sacrifice his family, his health, and happiness just to obtain wealth.  The same for physical fitness, careers etc.   Nothing is evil about the pursuit of wealth, physical fitness, or careers but when it becomes a consuming passion where other things of importance suffer, then it becomes evil or ra’ah.

We all know the Song of Solomon is a picture of our relationship with God.  Here we have God telling us that we are fair and we are His love.  How sweet.    Yet, what He is really saying is that among all his creation we are the most beautiful and we are his consuming passion.

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