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might also indeed be rendered imperfect. as equivalent to afferebat, or, according to Ewald, §136c, afferre solebat; but since נתן = ἐξέδοτο, Mat 21:33, denotes a gift laying the recipients under an obligation, יבא is used in the sense of יבא (אשׁר) למען; however, למען is not to be supplied (Symm. ἐνέγκη), but יבא in itself signifies afferre debebat (he ought to bring), like יע, Dan 1:5, they should stand (wait upon), Ewald, §136g. Certainly נארים does not mean tenants, but watchers, - the post-bibl. language has חכר, to lease, קבּל, to take on lease, chikuwr, rent, e.g., Mezîa ix. 2, - but the subject here is a locatio conductio; for the vine-plants of that region are entrusted to the “keepers” for a rent, which they have to pay, not in fruits but in money, as the equivalent of a share of the produce (the ב in בּפר is the ב pretii). Isa 7:23 is usually compared; but there the money value of a particularly valuable portion of a vineyard, consisting of 1000 vines, is given at “1000 silverlings” (1 shekel); while, on the other hand, the 1000 shekels here are the rent for a portion of a vineyard, the extent of which is not mentioned. But that passage in Isaiah contains something explanatory of the one before us, inasmuch as we see from it that a vineyard was divided into portions of a definite number of vines in each. Such a division into mekomoth is also here supposed. For if each “keeper” to whom the vineyard was entrusted had to count 1000 shekels for its produce, then the vineyard was at the same time committed to several keepers, and thus was divided into small sections (Hitzig). It is self-evident that the gain of the produce that remained over after paying the rent fell to the “keepers;” but since the produce varied, and also the price of wine, this gain was not the same every year, and only in general are we to suppose from Sol 8:12, that it yielded on an average about 20 per cent. For the vineyard which Shulamith means in Sol 8:12 is altogether different from that of Baal-hamon. It is of herself she says, Sol 1:6, that as the keeper of a vineyard, exposed to the heat of the day, she was not in a position to take care of her own vineyard. This her own vineyard is not her beloved (Hoelem.), which not only does not harmonize with Sol 1:6 (for she there looks back to the time prior to her elevation), but her own person, as comprehending everything pleasant and lovely which constitutes her personality (4:12-5:1), as îøê is the sum-total of the vines which together form a vineyard.
Of this figurative vineyard she says: לפני שׁלּי כּרמי. This must mean, according to Hitzig, Hoelem., and others, that it was under her protection; but although the idea of affectionate care may, in certain circumstances, be connected with לפני, Gen 17:18; Pro 4:3,