Thus Ibn Ezra maintains that “This book is allegorical, and describes the history of Israel; commencing with the days of our Father, Abraham, and coming down to the days of the Messiah; just as the Song of Moses (Deut. xxxii.) begins with the dispersion of the human family, and finishes with the final ingathering of Israel, after the battle of Gog and Magog. Do not wonder that the Congregation of Israel is here compared to a bride, and the Lord to a bridegroom; for this is the manner of the prophets.” (Comp. Isa. v. 1, lxii. 5, Ezek. xvi. 7, Hos. iii. 1, Psa. xlv. 10.) The allegory, according to this distinguished Rabbi, is developed in the suppositious attachment contracted between a damsel who kept a vineyard, and a shepherd. The representation of the love of these parties “is suppositious, because such an actual manifestation, in so public a manner as here recorded, would be regarded as highly improper.” [55] “The beloved” represents God; with the exception of viii. 12, where the Messiah is meant; “the loved one” is the Congregation of Israel; “the companions of the beloved” are the pious ancestors; “the daughters of Jerusalem” are the thoughts of the loved one; “the little sister,” in viii. 8, is the two tribes and a half; “the speaker,” in viii. 13, the shechinah; “the companions,” in the same verse, are the angels. The commentary consists of three different glosses: in the first, the words are explained; in the second, the suppositious history of the attachment of the shepherd and shepherdess is developed; and in the third gloss, the allegory is evolved from that history. The following is a specimen of the gloss where the allegory is propounded. 2. Let him kiss me.—He (i.e. Solomon) begins with Abraham, for he is the root of the Jewish nation. By “the kisses of his mouth” are meant the law and the commandments, as it is written, “Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” (Gen. xxvi. 5.) Do not wonder that the future (‏ישקני‎) is used instead of the past; this is the idiom of the sacred Scriptures, compare ‏ﬡז ישּיר‎, then he sang (Exod. xv. 1, and Psa. cvi. 19); just as we find the contrary, the past used for the future (Psa. lxxix. 1).—For thy love, &c. i.e., to be loved by thee; as the Scriptures testify of God’s love to his people. Compare “the seed of Abraham whom I love” (Isa. xli. 8); for there is a difference between ‏אוהב‎, loving, and ‏אהוב‎, loved. 3. Thy perfumes, &c.—Abraham proclaimed the works of God, and instructed his generation; and wherever he went he called on the name of the Lord; this is the meaning of “thy name is poured forth like oil.” Therefore do the damsels love thee.—‏עלמות‎ are such as have no husbands, and denote the heathen who had no God, and were brought by Abraham into union with God; as it is written, “The souls which they had begotten in Haran” (Gen. xii. 5).