(6.) The ratification of the covenant of love in Shulamith's home, Sol 8:5-14, beginning with, “Who is this ... ?”
Zöckler reckons only five acts, for he comprehends Song 5:2-8:4 in one; but he himself confesses its disproportionate length; and the reasons which determine him are invalid; for the analogy of the Book of Job, which, besides, including the prologue and the epilogue, falls into seven formal parts, can prove nothing; and the question, “Who is this?” Sol 6:10, which he interprets as a continuation of the encomium in Sol 6:9, is rather to be regarded, like Sol 3:8; Sol 8:5, as a question with reference to her who is approaching, and as introducing a new act; for the supposition that Sol 6:9 requires to be further explained by a statement of what was included in the “blessing” and the “praising” is unwarranted, since these are ideas requiring no supplement to explain them (Gen 30:13; Psa 41:3; Psa 107:32), and the poet, if he had wished to explain the praise as to its contents, would have done this otherwise (cf. Pro 31:28.) than in a way so fitted to mislead. Rightly, Thrupp (1862) regards Sol 6:10 as the chorus of the daughters of Jerusalem. He divides as follows: (1) The Anticipation, 1:2-2:7; (2) the Awaiting, 2:8-3:5; (3) the Espousal and its Results, 3:6-5:1; (4) the Absence, Sol 5:2-8; (5) the Presence, 5:9-8:4; (6) Love's Triumph, Sol 8:5-12, with the Conclusion, Sol 8:13-14. But how can Sol 5:9 begin a new formal part? It is certainly the reply to Shulamith's adjuration of the daughters of Jerusalem, and not at all the commencement of a new scene, much less of a new act.
In our division into six parts, the separate acts, for the most part necessarily, and in every case without any violence, divide themselves into two scenes each, thus: -
| Act | Scene 1 | Scene 2 |
|---|---|---|
| I: 1:2-2:7 | Sol 1:2-8 | 1:9-2:7 |
| II: 2:8-3:5 | Sol 2:8. | Sol 3:1-5 |
| III: 3:6-5:1 | Sol 3:6. | 4:1-5:1 |
| IV: 5:2-6:9 | 5:2-6:3 | Sol 6:4-9 |
| V: 6:10-8:4 | 6:10-7:6 | 7:7-8:4 |
| VI: Sol 8:5-14 | Sol 8:5-7 | Sol 8:8-14 |
The first scene of the first act I formerly (1851) extended to Sol 1:17, but it reaches only to Sol 1:8; for up to this point Solomon is absent, but with Sol 1:9 he begins to converse with Shulamith, and the chorus is silent - the scene has thus changed. Kingsbury in his translation (1871) rightly places over Sol 1:9 the superscription, “The Entrance of the King.”
The change of scenery is not regulated in accordance with stage