8. I long to climb, &c. After this flattering description Solomon tells the Shulamite how greatly he desires, and how happy he should be to enjoy, the affections of one so lovely and charming. We earnestly request those who maintain the allegorical interpretation of the Song seriously to reflect whether this verse, and indeed the whole of this address, can be put into the mouth of Christ as speaking to the Church. Would not our minds recoil with horror were we to hear a Christian using it publicly, or even privately, to illustrate the love of Christ for his Church?—‏אָמַר‎, to speak, also to wish, to desire, Gen. xliv. 28; Exod. ii. 14; 1 Sam. xx. 4. ‏אָמַרְתִּי‎ does not express the past, but the present; comp. ‏דָמְתָה‎ in the preceding verse; Gesen. § 126, 3; Ewald, § 135 b. The second verb ‏אֶעֱלֶה‎ is subordinate to the first, vide supra, chap. ii. 3. ‏גֶּפֶן‎ is added to ‏אֶשְׁכֹּל‎, to distinguish it from the dates in ver. 7. And the odour of thy breath, &c. That is, be as sweet and as quickening as that of apples. ‏אַף‎ is used in preference to ‏פֶּה‎, because the nostril, or the breathing (which ‏אַף‎ literally means) is regarded by the Hebrews as that which in distension betokens pleasure, anger, &c. The appropriateness of this expression will be more manifest when we remember that hitherto all that the Shulamite showed towards Solomon were resistance and independence. There is also a play of words here, ‏אַף‎ being derived from ‏אָנַף‎, to breathe, and ‏תַּפּוּחַ‎, from ‏נָפַח‎, to breathe. Hodgson strangely renders ‏וְרֵיחַ אַפֵף‎, “the fragrance of thy face,” because several MSS. read ‏אפיך‎ with a yod.