4. He led me, &c. Having represented her beloved, in the preceding verse, as a tree, forming with its widely-spread branches and rich foliage a shady bower, in which she delighted to repose and enjoy its delicious fruit, the Shulamite here narrates, in the same metaphorical language, how he took her into that bower of delight, that arbour of love. The words ‏בֵּית הַיָּיִן‎ mean bower of delight, wine being frequently used in this book for delight; and are but a designation of the manifestations of love denoted in the preceding verse by ‏תַּפוּחַ‎, delicious apple-tree. So also the word ‏דֶגֶל‎, from ‏דָּגַל‎, to cover, retaining here its primary meaning, cover, shade, corresponds to ‏צֵל‎, shade, in the last verse. The Sept., Sym., Syriac, Arab., which are followed by many moderns, read ‏הֲבִיאֻנִי‎, and ‏דִגְלוּ‎, bring me, and cover me, imper., arising most likely from a wish to produce uniformity in this and the following verses. 5. Oh, strengthen me, &c. The rehearsal of their past union and enjoyment kindled the Shulamite’s affections, and made her wish again for that delicious fruit, i.e. the tokens of his love. The cakes here mentioned were held in high estimation in the East; here, however, both the cakes and the apples are to be taken figuratively as expressions of love. This is obvious from the preceding verse, and from the words, “for I am sick with love,” for no real cake or apple could cure a heart suffering from this complaint. ‏אֲשִׁישָׁה‎ (from ‏אָשָׁשׁ‎, to burn, to fire; hence ‏אֵשׁ‎, fire, like ‏אֵם‎, mother, from ‏אָמַם‎, to join, to unite), something made by fire, a sort of sweet cake prepared with fire, and is most probably the same which in Hos. iii. 1 is written more fully ‏אֲשִׁישֵׁי עֲנַבִים‎, grape-cakes. The meaning, cake, is retained in the Sept. in all the passages (except Isa. xvi. 7, where the Sept. reads ‏אֲנְשֵׁי‎, instead of ‏אֲשִׁישֵׁי‎, see the parallel place, Jer. xlviii. 31), where this word occurs. Thus λάγανον ἀπὸ τηγάνου, a cake from the frying-pan, 2 Sam. vi. 19; and in the parallel passage, 1 Chron. xvi. 3, ἀμορίτης, a sweet cake; in Hos. iii. 1, πέμμα, a baked cake; and ἀμόραις, sweet cakes, in the passage before us. This meaning is supported by the Chald. on Exod. xvi. 31, where ‏אֲשִׁישְׁיָן‎ is used for the Hebrew ‏צַפִּיחִית‎, and Mishna Nedarim, vi. 10. Gesenius, Hitzig, Henderson, Fürst, &c., derive it from ‏אָשַׁשׁ‎, to press, to compress, whence, they say, ‏אֲשִׁישָׁה‎, a cake made of dried grapes pressed together, and ‏אֲשִׁישׁ‎, a foundation (Isa. xvi. 7), which is pressed down by treading on it. But as the transition from cake to foundation is not so easily conceived, and especially as the meaning to press, attached to ‏אָשׁשׁ‎, is nowhere to be found in Hebrew (the word in Isa. xvi. 7 is to be translated cake, see Hengstenberg, Christ. i. p. 315), it is far better to derive this word as above from ‏אָשַׁשׁ‎, to burn. The Rabbinical