The song before us is called "The Song of the Thousand" (Shir HaElef) or "The Song of the Aleph," named after the verse within it: "The thousand are for you, Shlomo." At the very beginning of Shir HaShirim, we mentioned the verse regarding King Shlomo: "and his song was a thousand and five" (Melachim I 5:12). Some explain that this refers to the one thousand and five songs he composed. However, the Malbim explains differently: "and his song" refers to Shir HaShirim; "five" refers to the five songs contained within it, which we have seen up to this point, culminating in the separation of the soul from the body; "and a thousand" refers to this song of the Aleph, the song in which it is mentioned: "The thousand are for you, Shlomo."
What is the theme of this song? The Malbim explains that this is an additional short appendix, in which the Maiden describes how she pours out her heart on behalf of her little sister, pleading that the king not desire her. Here we see both the Beloved's response and the sister's own response. Who is the little sister? Who is the Beloved whom the Maiden asks to protect her so that the king will not desire her? And how does all of this connect to Shlomo and the broader theme? We will explore this in the nimshal (the allegorical meaning). First, let us examine the literal level of the mashal (the parable).
אָחוֹת לָנוּ קְטַנָּה וְשָׁדַיִם אֵין לָהּ, מַה־נַּעֲשֶׂה לַאֲחֹתֵנוּ בַּיּוֹם שֶׁיְּדֻבַּר־בָּהּ׃ (ח, ח) - "We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?" (8:8)
The Maiden says: We have a little sister, and she does not yet have breasts - meaning she has not yet reached physical maturity, the sign that indicates readiness for marriage. What will we do for her on the day she is spoken for to marry the king? Lest King Shlomo seek her hand while she is still completely unready.
אִם־חוֹמָה הִיא נִבְנֶה עָלֶיהָ טִירַת כָּסֶף, וְאִם־דֶּלֶת הִיא נָצוּר עָלֶיהָ לוּחַ אָרֶז׃ (ח, ט) - "If she is a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver; and if she is a door, we will enclose her with a cedar board." (8:9)
The Beloved responds to her: If she is a wall - meaning, if she remains sealed like a wall and will not yield to Shlomo at all - "we will build upon her a turret of silver." We will build a fortification for her, a strong turret of silver. The word silver (kesef) is connected to longing (kisufin): we will give her a husband whom she will yearn for, toward whom her desire will be directed, and he will take her away from Shlomo's palaces.
However, "if she is a door" - if she opens herself up, opening her doors to Shlomo's love - then "we will enclose her with a cedar board." The cedar is something that does not endure, something that rots and decays, meaning that we will abandon her to Shlomo. Everything therefore depends on her: if she seals herself off against him, we will give her a husband whom she will yearn for; but if she does not seal herself against him, there is nothing left to be done.
אֲנִי חוֹמָה וְשָׁדַי כַּמִּגְדָּלוֹת, אָז הָיִיתִי בְעֵינָיו כְּמוֹצְאֵת שָׁלוֹם׃ (ח, י) - "I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then I became in his eyes like one who finds peace." (8:10)
The sister replies: I am sealed like a wall, and my breasts are as impregnable as fortified towers - meaning, I have not opened myself to Shlomo. And until now, I was in his eyes like one who found peace, for the proper time had not yet arrived, nor had the season of love come, and Shlomo did not approach me. I have peace with him; Shlomo has not yet drawn near to me.
כֶּרֶם הָיָה לִשְׁלֹמֹה בְּבַעַל הָמוֹן, נָתַן אֶת־הַכֶּרֶם לַנֹּטְרִים, אִישׁ יָבִא בְּפִרְיוֹ אֶלֶף כָּסֶף׃ (ח, יא) - "Shlomo had a vineyard in Baal-hamon; he gave the vineyard to keepers; each man would bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver." (8:11)
Here the Raya speaks: Shlomo had a vineyard in Baal-hamon - the name of a place - and the vineyard was so vast that the keepers who guarded it, each one would bring him a thousand pieces of silver for the yield of its fruit. That was what they paid for the vineyard's produce.
כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי לְפָנָי, הָאֶלֶף לְךָ שְׁלֹמֹה וּמָאתַיִם לְנֹטְרִים אֶת־פִּרְיוֹ׃ (ח, יב) - "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; the thousand is for you, Shlomo, and two hundred for those who guard its fruit." (8:12)
The sister says: Look, see, my vineyard is before me - Shlomo gave me this vineyard as a gift, for I was in his eyes like one who found peace, as was stated. But now she proclaims that she has no desire to keep this vineyard at all: "The thousand is for you, Shlomo" - what did they bring for its fruit? A thousand pieces of silver; and she renounces it. Shlomo gave me the vineyard as a gift, and I relinquish it: take the vineyard back, and keep for yourself the thousand pieces of silver given for it. And the two hundred due to those who guard its fruit as well - I have no desire to benefit from them either.
הַיּוֹשֶׁבֶת בַּגַּנִּים חֲבֵרִים מַקְשִׁיבִים לְקוֹלֵךְ הַשְׁמִיעִנִי׃ (ח, יג) - "You who dwell in the gardens, companions listen for your voice; let me hear it." (8:13)
Now the Beloved turns to the little sister and says to her: You who dwell in the gardens, you did not distance yourself to the desert like your sister, but rather remained in the gardens adjacent to the city. And in a place close to the city, there are companions listening to your words, for when a person is near the city, people hear what she says and she is in the company of others. Therefore, the Beloved says to her: I cannot be secluded with you up close, for the companions listening for your voice would overhear what we speak between us. Therefore, my request is "let me hear your voice" - let me hear your voice from afar, time and again.
בְּרַח דּוֹדִי וּדְמֵה־לְךָ לִצְבִי אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים עַל הָרֵי בְשָׂמִים׃ (ח, יד) - "Flee, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices." (8:14)
She too is afraid of the watchmen, and therefore she says to him: Flee, my beloved, and be like a gazelle. Just as a gazelle runs swiftly back and forth, so too you, come and go intermittently, returning to me time and again.
In the Song of the Thousand, which serves as a small appendix to the five songs that preceded it, the beloved maiden pours out her heart concerning her little sister who is not yet ready, asking what will become of her on the day she is spoken for. The Beloved replies that everything depends on her: if she stands like a wall before Shlomo - a turret of silver will be built upon her, a husband for whom she will yearn and who will take her out of Shlomo's palaces; but if she is a door and opens herself - we will enclose her with a cedar board, and she will be left abandoned before him. The sister testifies of herself, "I am a wall," and renounces Shlomo's entire vineyard - the thousand to Shlomo and the two hundred to the keepers. At the conclusion, the Beloved asks that she let him hear her voice from afar, before the companions who are listening, and she asks him to flee like a gazelle and return to her at times. This concludes the mashal; from here we turn to examine the nimshal that this song comes to express.