(8) We have a little sister.--Commentators are almost all at one in the feeling that the poem properly ends with Song of Solomon 8:7. Those who construct the poem on the plan of a drama can find no proper place for what follows (unless as a meaningless epilogue), and the want of cohesion with the main body of the work is so evident that many scholars have rejected it as a later addition; others have tried to find a place for it by re-arranging the whole poem. But if the various sections are, as above explained, only a succession of different presentments of the same story of courtship and marriage, made without any regard to order, but simply as they occurred to the memory of the poet, this conclusion presents no difficulty, either from its position or its meaning. With a view to artistic form, we might wish it away or in some other part of the poem; but the author had no regard to artistic form, or not the same conception of it as we have.

A little sister . . .--The recollection is carried back to the childhood of the bride. Her brothers are supposed to be debating how to deal with her when an offer of marriage should be made for her.

In the day when she shall be spoken for?--i.e., asked in marriage (comp. 1Samuel 25:29). At present she is unmarriageable.

Verse 8. - We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? The term "little" refers, of course, to her tender age, as in 2 Kings 5:2, the "little maid;" and in Genesis 44:20, "a child of his old age, a little one," referring to Benjamin. "She hath no breasts" is equivalent to saying she is not yet mature, of marriageable age (see Ezekiel 16:7). The question which the bride asks of King Solomon refers to the promise which he is supposed to have made, and which he is virtually pledging himself to fulfil by this visit to the country home of his queen. "What shall be done for the advantage of my little sister? Let us consult together" (cf. Genesis 27:37; 1 Samuel 10:2; Isaiah 5:4). "The day when she shall be spoken for" is the day when she shall attract the attention of a suitor. It must necessarily be difficult to find satisfactory interpretations forevery detail in such a poem of human love as this. It might be sufficient to see in this reference to the younger sister the general idea of love's expansion. Those who are themselves the objects of it, being full of exquisite happiness, desire to call others into the same joy. This is true both of the individual and of the Church. What shall be done for others? That is the question which is awakened in every heart where true love is at work. There is no need to explain the language further. But the allegorists have been very ingenious in attempting to find meanings forevery allusion of the poem. Who is the little sister? What is her virginity? What is the day in which she shall be spoken for? Some have said that the little sister represents the firstfruits of the Jews and Gentiles received into the Christian Church immediately after the time of our Lord's ascension, as Beza and others. Some, again, take it to mean the whole body of Jews and Gentiles yet to be converted. Others would see in it those that are weak in faith, the beginners in Christian life. And, again, it has been regarded as pointing to the "daughter of Zion" at the time of the first beginnings of her conversion to the heavenly Solomon, which is the view of Hengstenberg and others. There is no end to such fancies. The broad general meaning is all that we can rest upon. The bride naturally thinks of her sister. It is a lovely incident in a perfectly idyllic poem. The visit to the home is quite in harmony with the fresh, pure, and simple life which reveals itself in all the utterances of the bride, and is honoured by the devoted attention of the splendid monarch. It is a real touch of nature when the young bride, in her family life once more, asks what shall become of her sister. It is an exquisite type of that sisterly solicitude with which all true Christians will care for the souls around them. Delitzsch thinks that the question which is asked by the bride is answered by her brothers, as they were the actual guardians of the little sister (see Genesis 21:50, 55; 34:6-8). But there is no necessity to introduce any new interlocutors at this point. The words are certainly addressed to Solomon. It is quite natural that he should reply to them in a royal style, with the pluralis majestatis which suits the corresponding position of the bride as a suppliant for her sister.

Parallel Commentaries ...


We have a little
קְטַנָּ֔ה (qə·ṭan·nāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 6996: Small, young, unimportant

sister,
אָח֥וֹת (’ā·ḥō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 269: Sister -- a sister

and her breasts
וְשָׁדַ֖יִם (wə·šā·ḏa·yim)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - md
Strong's 7699: The breast of a, woman, animal

are not yet grown.
אֵ֣ין (’ên)
Adverb
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

What
מַֽה־ (mah-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

shall we do
נַּעֲשֶׂה֙ (na·‘ă·śeh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common plural
Strong's 6213: To do, make

for our sister
לַאֲחֹתֵ֔נוּ (la·’ă·ḥō·ṯê·nū)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common plural
Strong's 269: Sister -- a sister

on the day
בַּיּ֖וֹם (bay·yō·wm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

she is spoken for?
שֶׁיְּדֻבַּר־ (še·yə·ḏub·bar-)
Pronoun - relative | Verb - Pual - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue


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OT Poetry: Song of Solomon 8:8 We have a little sister (Song Songs SS So Can)