Song of Solomon 1:17

Son 1:17 The beams of our house [are] cedar, [and] our rafters of fir.

Ver. 17. The beams of our house are cedar,] Not my, but our house, as before, our bed, and after, our galleries. All is common between the bridegroom and the bride - bed, board, house, all. It should be so between married couples, who should not have several purses, interests, &c., but both bring in what they have or get to the common hive. The Church is Christ’s house, and every faithful soul is God’s building; {1Ti 3:15 Heb 3:6} he "plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, that he may say to Zion, Thou art my people." {Isa 51:16} The great Architect of the world doth as wonderful a work in converting a soul to himself as he did in setting up this goodly edifice of the universe. This stately structure of the new creature he makes of the best materials, cedar, cypress, boratine, &c. A mud wall may be made up of dirt, straw, stones of the street, &c.; not so a stately palace, a marble monument. Solomon’s temple was built of cedar wood; so was the temple of Diana of the Ephesians, as Vitruvius testifieth: the devil will needs be God’s ape. He knew that cedar is a tree strong and durable; and for the dryness of it, the timber chawneth not, rotteth not; yea, it hath a property to preserve other things from putrefaction. A late writer observeth of it that viventes res putrefacit et perdit, putridas autem restituit et conservat. {a} The Church is also stable, and cannot be ruined; it is founded upon a rock; the elect cannot be finally deceived the faithful ministers, by preaching law and gospel, kill the quick Pharisee, and quicken the dead publican; {Rom 7:9 2Co 2:16} they "declare unto man his righteousness," {Job 33:23} and show him how he may be "found in Christ" (viz., when sought for by the justice of God), "not having his own righteousness," {Php 3:9} those filthy garments, {Zec 3:4} but the bride’s "fine white linen, and shining," {Rev 19:14} and after a few turns taken here with Christ in the terrace or galleries of the Church militant made of fir, he shall have places given him in heaven, to walk among "those that stand by"; {Zec 3:7} that is, among the seraphim, as the Chaldee paraphrast expounds it.

{a} Hinc. Horat., Cedro dignum, et cerite cera. - Scribon. in Physic., lib. ii.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 17. The beams of our house are cedar] Perhaps it was under a cedar tree, whose vast limbs were interwoven with the ברות beroth, a tree of the cypress kind, where they now sat. And this natural bower recommended itself to the poet's attention by its strength, loftiness, and its affording them a shady cover and cool retreat. How natural to break out into the praise of a bower, by whose branches and foliage we are shielded from the intense heat of the sun! Even the shelter of a great rock to a weary land is celebrated by the pen of the first of prophets and greatest of poets, Isa 32:2.

With this chapter the first day of the marriage ceremonies is supposed to end.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(17) Rafters.—Marg., galleries (comp. Son_7:5); LXX., φατνώματα; Vulg., laquearia; Heb., rahît, from rahat = run, flow: hence (1) a gutter, from the water running down (Gen. 3:38); (2) a curl, from its flowing down the neck (Son_7:5—Hebrews 6); (3) here rafters, or roof beams, from their spreading overhead. “Our couch was the green grass, the arches of our bower the cedar branches, and its rafters the firs.” Others read rachitim, which is explained as a transposition for charitim = turned work. But the thought is plainly connected with the woods, not with a gorgeous house. For cedar see 1Ki_4:33.

Fir.—Heb., berôth (Aramaic form of berôsh), a tree often mentioned in connection with cedar as an emblem of majesty, &c. (Eze_31:8; Isa_37:24; Isa_60:13). “The plain here has evidently been buried deep under sand long ages ago, precisely as at Beirût, and here are the usual pine forests growing upon it (Beirût is by some derived from berûth). These are the finest specimens we have seen in Palestine, though every sandy ridge of Lebanon and Hermon is clothed with them. In my opinion it is the Heb. berôsh, concerning which there is so much confusion in the various translations of the Bible . . . the generic name for the pine, of which there are several varieties in Lebanon. Cypress is rarely found there, but pine everywhere, and it is the tree used for beams and rafters (Thomson, The Land and Book, p. 511). The Pinus maritima and the Aleppo pine are the most common, the latter being often mistaken for the Scotch fir. (See Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 353, &c.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. Render, The beams of our houses are cedars, and our rafters are cypresses. The meaning is not that their houses are built of cedar, but that the cedar trees and fir trees form the roof over their heads as they seek shelter under them. Perhaps the plural houses may be significant. They have not one, but many palaces in the forest glades. The country maiden speaks as a country maiden whose couch was often in the green grass, and who had cedars and cypresses for walls and roof at her meetings with her lover.

our rafters] Heb. râchîtçnu. This word is not found elsewhere, and its meaning can only be conjectured. The context suggests some portion of the woodwork of the roof, hence the ‘rafters’ of the A.V. LXX, φατνώματα = laquearia, lacunaria, i.e. ‘panelled ceilings.’

of fir] are cypresses. The form of the Heb. word here is bìrôthîm, which is supposed to be the North Palestinian pronunciation for the usual berôshîm. The Vulgate everywhere renders abies = pine, the LXX and Syriac give in many places ‘cypress.’ But the cedar and cypress were trees of Lebanon, and the most valued among them, and Solam, at the S.W. foot of Jebel-ed-Dahi (Oettli), was not very far from the forests of Lebanon. Probably therefore the cypress is meant.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The beams of our house are cedar; not only strong and incorruptible, but also fragrant and delightful. Though I am in myself but a mean and rustic person, yet the house to which I invite thee, and where thou and I shall dwell together, is, by thy favour, built with cedar; whereby is here signified the stability of God’s church upon earth, which is called God’s house, 1Ti 3:15, and the firmness and sureness of God’s word and promises.

Rafters; the lesser beams. Or, as it is rendered in our margin, and by others, galleries, wherein we may walk.

Of fir; or, as the ancients and others render it, of cypress, which was used in buildings, which also was strong and fragrant, and therefore suits well with cedars.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. The beams, etc. — Better, The arches of our house are cedar, and its roof-work of cypress. A summer retreat which, in its coolness and fragrance and templed trees, may vie with the king’s canopies as a home for love.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cedar - Not only strong, but also fragrant and delightful. Cypress - Which also was strong and fragrant, and therefore suits well with cedar.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The beams of our houses are cedars This is the praise of the Tabernacle.

our corridors Heb. רָהִיטֵנוּ. I do not know if this is a term referring to boards or a term referring to bars, but I do know that also in the language of the Mishnah, we learned (Hag. 16a): “The רָהִיטִים of a person’s house testify against him.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.