Introduction: The Greatness of Shir HaShirim
We begin the study of Shir HaShirim. Many sublime things have been said about this book that were never said about any other book in Tanach. The very first verse opens with the name of the book and the name of its author:
שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים אֲשֶׁר לִשְׁלֹמֹה׃ (א, א) - The Song of Songs, which is Shlomo's.
Rashi writes: Our Sages taught that wherever the name Shlomo appears in Shir HaShirim it is sacred - referring to the King to Whom peace belongs. A song that is superior to all songs, recited to the Holy One, blessed be He, by His congregation and His people, the Community of Israel. Rabbi Akiva said: The entire world was never as worthy as the day on which Shir HaShirim was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy, but Shir HaShirim is the Holy of Holies. And Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said: To what may this be compared? To a king who took a se'ah of wheat and gave it to a baker, saying: Produce for me so-and-so much fine flour, so-and-so much coarse bran, so-and-so much fine bran, and sift out from it for me one refined, high-quality loaf. So too, all the Writings are holy, and Shir HaShirim is the Holy of Holies, for it is entirely the fear of Heaven and the acceptance of the yoke of His sovereignty.
What is the meaning of the designation "Holy of Holies"? All verses in Tanach have peshat (plain meaning) and derash (homiletical meaning). Shir HaShirim is unique in that it is entirely Holy of Holies; that is, it does not consist of peshat on the one hand and derash on the other, but rather its peshat is itself derash. Even its overt layer is internal and hidden. Entire pamphlets have been written in praise of Shir HaShirim, and here it is sufficient to cite Rashi's words, for one could expand on this endlessly. These core ideas are enough for us to understand that everything written in Shir HaShirim, all its expressions and themes of love, come to express the bond between the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Community of Israel.
Why We Are Specifically Learning According to the Malbim
There are numerous commentaries on Shir HaShirim. There are books in Tanach that can be studied using several commentaries simultaneously, such as Mishlei - one can study it with Rabbeinu Yonah, the Vilna Gaon, the Ralbag, and the Malbim, and there is no contradiction in doing so, since in Mishlei each verse stands on its own. However, there are books that cannot be studied with multiple commentaries combined, because they recount a continuous progression. If one studies one verse according to one commentary and the next according to another, the overarching narrative is lost, as each commentator explains it differently. This was also our approach in the Book of Iyov, which we studied solely through the Malbim, since according to the Malbim, Iyov presents a single, cohesive progression.
The exact same applies to Shir HaShirim. The song expresses a progression, and according to the Malbim, a very unique progression, distinct from how other commentators explain it. Therefore, we will adhere closely to his words and study the book according to his approach, which is a marvelous way of explaining the subject. This is in no way intended to detract from the other commentaries - there is a wonderful, extensive commentary by the Vilna Gaon on Shir HaShirim, as well as many other explanations - but it is preferable to focus on a single commentary that elucidates a complete, unified narrative.
The Malbim's Introduction and His Poetic Style
Now we will study the introduction. The Malbim composed it in a poetic, rhyming style, and many will appreciate his eloquent manner of writing. Anyone who finds the introduction heavy may skip it, as we will summarize it briefly later on, and Shir HaShirim can be understood without it as well. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to examine it to see the structure of Shir HaShirim as the Malbim envisions it.
He opens as follows: "Treasury of treasuries, jewel of all desire, beauty of purpose" - tzevi denotes glory, and chemda denotes desire, something coveted by people. "Treasure of treasures and preciousness of all that is sacred, this song is sanctified unto us. From the day the mightiest of wise men" - referring to Shlomo - "comprehended it through the spirit of Hashem upon him until this very day, the ancients called it the Holy of Holies, dubbing it pure fine flour. The head of songs and their diadem, the glory of the Writings and their splendor. The desire of everlasting years, jewel of adornments, the strength of sound wisdom and understanding, the storehouse of wisdom and knowledge" - osem being related to asam, a storehouse - "the dwelling of light and radiance, the tent of brilliance and purity." And in the faithful words of our Sages: The world was never as worthy as the day on which Shir HaShirim was given to Israel.
The Obscure Riddles of the Song
And immediately the Malbim asks: But what is the secret of this song? Over what and about whom was its parable uttered? Who are its prophets and what did they prophesy? Concerning whom were these words and visions spoken, which are so wondrous? Who is this rising from the wilderness, and her beloved who turned and vanished? Who is the beloved young man who put forth his hand through the latch-hole, and his bride yearning for him, her breasts like twin fawns? And she is perfumed with myrrh and frankincense - and who is her little sister? Who is this gazelle and young stag, the cluster of henna, resting between breasts and couching at noon? The bundle of myrrh and the apple, peering and looking? And his locks are curled, his hands like rods of gold, his feet like deer - and who are the foxes that destroy the vineyards? All these are parables in Shir HaShirim - and as we read, we do not know of whom it speaks.
He continues: Who is the one who browses among the lilies, whose eyes are like doves, his legs like pillars and all of him is delight, distinguished above ten thousand and his banner is love, the beloved upon the mountains of Bater? And who is his dove in the clefts, black and comely, love-sick, clear as the sun and awesome as an army with banners? Her lips drip nectar and her teeth are like a flock of sheep, her eyes like pools in Heshbon, and how beautiful are her steps in sandals? And who is the king at his banquet, with maidens and daughters around him, queens and concubines and the fairest of women, Shlomo and the Shulammite and the dance of the camps, a bride from Lebanon and the daughters of Jerusalem? Who are the yearners and the kissers, the companions and the shepherds, the beloveds and the friends? The city and the watchmen, the vineyard in Baal-hamon and the keepers, the couch and the sixty mighty men, and what of the palanquin and its pillars, the garden and its precious fruits? The palm and its fruit clusters, a fountain of gardens and an orchard of pomegranates, the mandrakes and the vines, the raisin cakes and the apples, the rose of the valleys among the thorns? Notice that every single expression here is drawn directly from the verses of Shir HaShirim.
The Malbim concludes: All these are concealed riddles and sealed secrets, exalted wisdom and hidden wonders. The sages of old plowed with his heifer and did not solve his riddle - echoing Shimshon's words: "Had you not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." And the discerning thinkers of the later generations harrowed his soil but carried away no sheaves - meaning they worked the ground but produced no harvest; they achieved no clear result, and we were left without a satisfying explanation. And the book was handed to one who is literate, saying: "Please read this," and he said, "I cannot, for it is sealed." A riddle it was, and a riddle it remains.
The Two Approaches That Preceded Him
The outer garment of the song, the wrapper in which it appears to the onlooker's eyes, is a love song between King Shlomo and his beloved, or between a shepherd and his bride. It is filled with expressions of romance, lacking apparent order, with many poetic figures that no one understands. And as for most of these poetic expressions and imagery - the commentators wearied of fitting them into the golden settings of the plain meaning in their full perfection, so they flattened the crooked path and said: It was merely a metaphor. In other words, as soon as things become complicated regarding how the mashal fits the nimshal, they answer that it is all just poetic imagery, and thereby settle the difficulty. But the Malbim, as we know, makes no compromises, and we will see in his commentary how every single word is set in its full place, every detail expresses a precise idea, and nothing here is a mere collection of flourishes.
The first approach is that of the Sages of the Midrash: Knesses Yisrael is the beloved maiden, and the lover is her supreme Beloved, her God, Who betrothed her as a wife in Egypt during her youth. There her time arrived, the time of love; and in the barren wilderness she bound her bridal ornaments. And from holy myriads her two breasts were like two fawns - referring to the holy Torah. In the Desirable Land He spread His wings over her, and in the eternal Temple, "Come with Me from Lebanon, my bride," and the scent of Lebanon was the scent of her garments. Until she betrayed the husband of her youth, and He sent her away from His house because of her transgressions, and her God said that a wife of youth has been rejected. Yet her Beloved is like a gazelle: "Behold, he stands behind our wall" - waiting and longing for her to repent, so that He may once again rejoice over her for good as He rejoiced over her ancestors. A brief note: when we say "Knesses Yisrael," we mean the collective congregation of Israel, not to be confused with the secular Knesset in Jerusalem.
This path was paved by the Sages of the Midrash, and most commentators followed in their footsteps - the Exodus from Egypt, the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the entry into the Land of Israel, casting off the yoke, and the Holy One, blessed be He, waiting for her return. However, in resolving the details of the verses and the sequence of the passages, their paths diverged; each went his own way, and no two are alike. The variations lie in the specifics, but the general trajectory remains the same.
The second approach is that of the philosophical scholars. They stripped away the miter of poetic expression, removed the crown, created form without substance, and suspended high mountains by a single hair. They wove into this song all the natural sciences and cosmological systems, cobwebs on the loom - that is, they draped upon the verses ideas as flimsy as spiderwebs. They turned the verses wherever the philosophical wind blew, like clay in the potter's hand, leaving of them only a stump like the terebinth and the oak in leaf-fall - the ideas simply do not fit the text.
In short: most commentaries and explanations inhabit parched wildernesses in the distant north among the forests, stopping at the boundary of Remez and Drash, far removed from the luminous dwelling of the plain meaning, ungrounded in the dense fabric of the verses. And although we know that the Divine word has seventy facets and a thousand directions, nevertheless the Peshat - the plain explanation - is the beginning of wisdom. It is the key by which the gates are opened before we enter the inner chambers, into the innermost sanctuary and the palaces of the King. This is the Malbim's argument: I am willing to accept that there are other explanations, but the fundamental starting point is Peshat, and one must see how whatever is explained actually aligns with the plain meaning of the text.
"Behold, I Shall Open a New Gate for You"
From here, the Malbim turns to his own approach: "Therefore I have come forth to give you understanding; incline your ear and listen. Behold, I shall open a new gate for you, through which your soul will see light and find rest, for sweet is the light, and pleasant it is for the eyes to see the sun." And he declares: the thoughts of the other commentators in understanding the outer layer of this mashal are not my thoughts, nor are their ways in grasping the meaning of the nimshal my ways. In other words, he dissents both in understanding the parable and in understanding its underlying meaning. King Shlomo alone is not her beloved, her friend, and her companion, nor is a desert shepherd alone her desire and destination. Nor is the song uttered concerning the congregation of Israel according to my commentary, nor concerning the workings of nature and its mechanism.
Rather: "The parable relates the struggles of Shlomo while he was yet alive, and the figurative rhetoric reveals the strength of his hand through the spirit of his prophecy, when he stripped off his soiled garments and his soul cleaved to the living God. The mashal and the melitzah shall be twins together, their days fulfilled to give birth, and behold, twins in one mother's womb" - meaning a complete, one-hundred-percent alignment between the mashal and the nimshal. "And behold, we were binding sheaves, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright... And now I shall pour out my meditation, incline my ear to a parable, open my riddle with a harp, and behold, your sheaves will gather around and bow to my sheaf" - hear my explanation, and see if you will not concede that it is the true, plain meaning of Shir HaShirim.
The Allegory: The King, the Maiden, and the Shepherd
This is the allegory: Among the multitude of women, queens and concubines, to whom Solomon cleaved in love, his soul yearned for a beloved doe, a maiden like Keziah and Jemimah - the names of Job's daughters, who were the fairest in the land - pure as the sun, entirely harmonious, peerless upon the earth. She was a shepherdess of her mother's sons' flock, silent as a sheep before its shearers. Yet inside her bones a fire and flame were held back, flashes of fire, a flame of love - for a hidden youth, someone unknown, ruddy and handsome, fair of eyes and girded at the loins, chosen like the cedars and skilled in crafts, a shepherd of sheep and kids upon the mountains in the far fields.
In other words: Solomon took for himself a shepherdess, but her heart belonged to another young man who remained behind pasturing the sheep, not to King Solomon who took her and brought her into his palace. And he, the shepherd, would hasten each day like an eagle in the sky, from the wilderness where he encamped toward Solomon's chambers, the dwelling of his grieving maiden, continually renewing his covenant of love with her, calling her his dove, his perfect one, while she calls him "my beloved and my friend." Thus, "my beloved and my friend" is not Solomon, but rather her lover and husband who remained with the flock.
Here it must be emphasized: no such incident ever occurred, and one must never imagine, Heaven forbid, that Solomon stole another man's wife - is he Ahasuerus? Rather, as we have said, this is purely an allegory. When we examine the deeper meaning, we will understand why Solomon framed the allegory around himself, even though it portrays him in an unflattering light.
And yet, even though the king stationed guards over her, with the daughters of Jerusalem watching her and sixty mighty men surrounding his bed, iron locks and copper fetters could not shut out the flashes of love, and walls, bolts, and doors could not divide the lovers. Solomon did everything in his power to lock her in and place guards around her so she would not flee, yet nothing could stand before love. For the beloved would return to speak with her through the opening of the doorpost and the doors, and she too would go out after him into the wilderness, reclining with him among the sheepfolds. Whenever she went out, her guards, the daughters of Zion, would pursue her, surrounding her in the dances of Mahanaim, while she raised her hands against them, saying: "I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, do not awaken the love" - for a dry crust of bread with him in a parched desert and wasteland is better to me than palaces of pleasure in which I have found no good. It is better for me to be with the shepherd in a lowly place than in royal palaces with Solomon.
And in the end of days, like a young stag from the mountains of spices, rays of light shone upon her from his hand, the mandrakes of love blossomed, and its fiery flashes prevailed. In other words, the story ends with the shepherd succeeding in his quest and ultimately taking his maiden. Throughout the book, we see her fleeing to him and being brought back, fleeing and being brought back, until they are finally reunited. "And the prisoners of hope were set free, fleeing to the wilderness, while the band of poets broke out in joyful song: For love is fierce as death, its jealousy as unyielding as the grave, many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers and the deep abyss extinguish it. The clouds departed, the skies cleared, the shadows fled, the companions were joined, girded with joy and gladness, they looked and were radiant, crowned with a diadem; the minstrels chanted and the poets sang." Here too, we will want to understand later on how this success is manifested in the allegorical meaning.
The Allegorical Meaning: The Body as a City and the Soul as the King's Daughter
Now the Malbim provides an introduction to the allegory's deeper meaning. The philosophers and scholars of wisdom compared the physical body in their allegories - that is, the human body - with its multitude of ordered, active, and reactive faculties, to the city of a great king and its legions, or to a small city with few men in it. Man is composed of many faculties: the sense of touch, the sense of sight, the power of speech, and the like. The Vilna Gaon explains that man has seventy faculties; whoever wishes may consult the work of Rav Barvadam on the Gra's commentary to the Book of Jonah, where the entire Book of Jonah is explained as referring to the soul descending into this world sent to rectify, all in allegory and inner meaning, and there all seventy faculties of man are detailed. The philosophers as well wrote extensively categorizing the powers of the body, though many of their definitions are no longer relevant to us and are difficult to explain.
Just as a city contains many diverse people, vast crowds, each encamping beneath his banner and engaged in distinct pursuits for unique personal aims - each with his own purpose and goal - so too within the body there is a multitude of faculties, like a flock of numbered sheep, each resting in its place, structured upon the foundation of its nature, carrying out its function and directed toward a specific purpose. Every faculty has a defined role within man.
And just as all the people of a city, great and small, share in an overarching order and unite under a single government and under righteous laws, statutes, and judgments, all laboring - each under his banner and in his legion, each at his work and bearing his burden - to maintain the city's welfare on its proper foundation; and among them are rulers and governors, judges and officers who command and admonish, alongside the common folk, children and men, old and young, vinedressers and plowmen, who are guided and submissive, admonished and compliant - for without unified leadership, chaos would reign and men would swallow one another alive;
so too all the faculties of the body, its traits, properties, and mechanisms, unite for the general governance of the living creature, joining together without parting. They all labor like citizens of a kingdom to establish on a firm foundation the welfare of the body and its needs, its vitality, health, and nourishment. They all participate under a universal natural law that permeates and blends with all their powers, with the goal of sustaining the living creature and its body all the days of its existence on earth until its passing arrives. If we consider for a moment not the faculties but the internal organs, we see that they all function in harmony: the heart supplies blood to all the limbs, the lungs supply oxygen, and so on, and this harmony is what allows the body to continue functioning. Among them are primary faculties stationed over those under their charge, and lesser faculties given to them as servants.
And when we examine all the faculties of the body with a discerning eye, we see that they all stand with it and perish with it; they were born with the flesh and in death are not parted from it. For all came from the dust and to their dust they shall return; physical matter was their raw material, and from it they sprout forth. They are its household retainers, born in its home, its allies, rushing to satisfy its desires. This is the entire fruit of their diligence all the days of their existence on earth: to fulfill the will of their body, its pleasures and desires, its cravings and benefits. The entire physical dimension - its sole purpose is to provide the body with goodness and pleasure, to supply its needs and carry out its wishes. They are the citizens of the town and its builders, the ancient dwellers of the city, farmers and tillers of the soil, all an undiscerning people, bound in cords and fetters, bearing burdens and suffering - this is their portion in the world. In simple terms: they are all physical elements yearning for earthly matters, and when the body perishes they will perish with it, being essentially vanity.
"Yet there is one unique exception: she walks like the appearance of torches." She is a king's daughter and she is the ruler; she is the bird of prey giving life to the carcasses, a torch of fire passing between the pieces, "for from that well the flocks were watered." She is the beautiful dove, looking forth like the dawn, all glorious is the king's daughter within, clear as the sun. She is the companion, she is the bride, enduring forever; she lives eternally. She is the living, intellectual soul, set apart from all creatures of flesh, and behind the doorpost and door she sets her remembrance in her secret stronghold, yearning for her Beloved who dwells upon the mountain of spices.
This is the spiritual aspect within man. All the faculties we mentioned earlier are part of the body, and when the body dies, they perish with it; they are physical drives seeking pleasure and desire. In contrast, the soul is a royal daughter. For from where was it hewn? From beneath the Throne of Glory, "and whoever exhales, breathes from within himself" - from the breath of the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore, it longs to reunite with the Source from which it was formed. The body pursues desires, pleasures, and physical comfort, while the soul yearns for the higher realms, for it is the breath of the Almighty from on high. He is her Beloved - the Holy One, blessed be He - and to Him she clings; He is her companion, and upon Him she leans.
"In the evening she comes, and in the morning she returns to the God she loved" - in the evening, when man sleeps, his soul ascends on high; and in the morning it returns: "I give thanks before You... that You have restored my soul within me." "She makes no covenant with the inhabitant of the land, nor shows them favor, and when they call out to her, she does not answer them" - when the body beckons the soul to join in physical pleasures and lusts, this does not speak to her at all. And when He in Whose hand is the soul of all living says, "Divide the living child" - when the Holy One, blessed be He, declares that time is up, man's years have passed, and the moment has arrived to separate soul from body - she says to him: "Your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one." The seventy bodily faculties are "the dead son" - they descend to the grave. And who is the eternal survivor? The soul. "And my son is the living one" - it returns to the meeting house of all living, to the Holy One, blessed be He, "and it is hidden from the eyes of all living," for the soul cannot be seen or grasped by the physical senses.
He concludes: "And you, turn your face toward you and make the rough places level; I will open gates before you, and give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places. Behold, a hand was sent to me, and in it was a scroll of a book, written within and on the back" - the scroll of Shir HaShirim, which is written on both sides, meaning it contains an exoteric layer and an esoteric layer. "And I ate it, and it was in my mouth like sweet honey. Open your mouth and eat what I give you; if you find honey, eat your fill, and sweet nectar to your palate."
Introduction to the Composition: The Two Heads of Life
Having laid the foundation - that man possesses both a material power and a spiritual power, and that the true governing force is the spiritual - the Malbim proceeds to a section he titles the "Introduction to the Composition," where he explains materiality versus spirituality.
Indeed, every human being as such finds his life and actions divided into two primary paths, corresponding to the two components of which he is composed. The first path turns toward Beth-aven - an expression signifying idolatry, futility, and falsehood - toward the life of the body and its material activities. Inasmuch as man is an earthly creature, his heart turns toward transient successes: amassing wealth and riches, seeking honor and position, and loving worldly desires and bodily pleasures.
The second path turns toward the highway leading up to Bethel - toward the life of the soul and its spiritual activities. Inasmuch as the soul is a daughter of heaven, its focus is directed toward spiritual fulfillment: gathering wisdom and knowledge, seeking the fear of Hashem and righteous humility, loving Hashem and cleaving to Him, scorning the vanities of time, sanctifying itself from the defilement of the physical body and its lusts, so that it may walk among the eternal angels.
Even when the material forces, her neighbors, entice and overcome her to make a covenant with them - that is, when the body drags the soul toward itself, toward desires and pleasures, to become a keeper of their vineyards or to sleep in the lap of indolence for ages, thinking, "let me sleep a little longer, let me indulge" - nevertheless, "she sleeps, but her heart is awake." She may be drawn after the body, yet the soul stirs from within; her heart is awake, and she always retains a spiritual yearning. From time to time she awakens to shake herself from the dust, awakening up to seven times like the prophet who revived the dead child, opening her intellectual eyes to see that clouds are its garment and to know that thick darkness is its swaddling band. That is to say, although the soul is frequently drawn after the body, and the body succeeds in obscuring the Divine light from it, every so often it awakens. This depicts the human condition: a person is often in a state of spiritual decline, and suddenly an awakening occurs, a yearning and passion to serve his Creator.
Why Specifically King Solomon
Until now we have spoken in general terms, for materiality and spirituality exist within each of us - a soul yearning for higher realms and a body craving earthly pursuits and lusts. If so, what does Solomon have to do with this? How do the allegory and its meaning pertain specifically to him?
The Malbim explains: These two paths, these two modes of life in which man walks as an image upon the earth, were manifested with greater intensity and power in the life of King Solomon, peace be upon him. First, in physical life, he attained worldly desires and pleasures more than any other person, as he elaborated at length in Kohelet. There he opens with a description of what he possessed: male and female singers, delights of the sons of men, and whatever his eyes desired he did not withhold from them. He ruled over the entire known world and lacked nothing. Thus, in physical matters, Solomon exemplifies someone who attained the absolute maximum, beyond which nothing could be added.
And secondly, in spiritual life. You might say: he had materiality, but what is that worth without spirituality? Come and see what occurred with Shlomo in the spiritual realm. He merited visions of God, the spirit rested upon him, and Hashem spoke with him in dreams and visions. Then, in accordance with the conditions of prophecy, the physical body would waste away, the material forces would cease, its pillars would tremble, and his divine soul would separate from the company of matter, strip off its soiled garments, and remain solitary, clinging to the boundless Supreme Intellect - this is her Beloved, and this is her Friend. Shlomo reached a state where he connected to spirituality and succeeded in divesting himself of materiality.
And so it is with all recipients of prophecy. See what happened to Shaul: he bowed and fell, his clothes became a burden upon him and he began to strip them off. For when a person reaches spiritual communion, the body becomes a burden upon him. Therefore, people who received prophecy appeared as though mad, lying on the ground and trembling. This is prophecy - an immense spiritual power. Shlomo merited this as well. Thus, not only did he achieve the peak of physical pleasures - a thousand wives, a palace filled with every good thing, wealth, riches, gold, and whatever he desired - but also in spiritual matters, he merited that his soul would remain solitary, cleaving to the Supreme Intellect.
And after he composed the Book of Kohelet, in which he placed bodily life into the crucible and a furnace for its vanities, showing they are all futility together - refining physical life in the crucible and furnace, as if to say: let us examine, let us separate the dross, and you will see that material matters are all vanity devoid of substance - he composed this holy song. In it, he spoke glorious things about the life of the soul, when the spirit rests upon her and she clings to her exalted Beloved, preeminent among ten thousand. Through it, he taught the people knowledge, wisdom, and ethical discipline, to make known this secret and its meaning, and to illuminate souls dwelling in darkness, clothing his words in allegory and metaphor in the manner of the sages and their riddles.
That is to say: in this song, Shlomo depicts the connection of the soul to his body and its physical pleasures, alongside the soul's yearning to detach and connect with the Holy One, blessed be He. This found expression in those instances when the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to him and spoke with him, such as at Giv'on and in other places, as will be clarified in greater detail later in the book. Shlomo comes to express this conflict: the soul, on the one hand, is connected to the material body with its desires and pleasures, and on the other hand, perpetually yearns to emerge, detach, and unite with her Beloved - who is the Holy One, blessed be He.
In summary:
Shir HaShirim is the Holy of Holies, whose plain meaning (peshat) is holy as well. The approach of the Sages of the Midrash - that the maiden is Knesset Yisrael and the Beloved is the Holy One, blessed be He - and the approach of the philosophical commentators are both critiqued by the Malbim on the grounds that they do not align with the plain reading of the verses, and the peshat is the key to all gates. Therefore, he opens a new gateway: the parable tells of a young shepherdess taken to Shlomo's palace while her heart remains devoted to her beloved shepherd; she flees to him and is brought back, until they are ultimately reunited. And the allegorical meaning applies to Shlomo himself: the body with all its faculties is like a city full of people serving his pleasures, all destined to perish with it; whereas the soul is a royal daughter, hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory, eternal, perpetually yearning to cleave to her exalted Beloved. Shlomo, having attained the pinnacle of materiality and the pinnacle of spirituality alike, authored Kohelet as a crucible for the vanities of the body, and Shir HaShirim as the love song of the soul yearning for its God.