Song of Solomon 8 · a question people ask

Who is the little sister of 8:8, and what do the wall and the door mean?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. "We have a little sister" (8:8), say speakers who speak as we, and they ask, "What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for?" (8:8) (tap sister). They give their own answer in two likenesses: "If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar" (8:9). Then a voice answers with the same word: "I am a wall" (8:10) (tap wall). In Hebrew like one who found in 8:10 is feminine, so a woman speaks there. The chapter doesn't name those who say we, or the sister, and doesn't say whether the woman of 8:10 is the sister of 8:8. It doesn't explain the wall, the door, the turret or the boards, and these notes don't either. 8:10 ends, "then I was in his eyes like one who found peace" (8:10): peace is shalom, its only time in the Song.

The verses

“We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.”
Song of Solomon 8:8-10 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Song of Solomon 8

Song of Solomon 8: Love is strong as death

Right after the last charge not to awaken love (8:4), the next verse has "Under the apple tree I awakened you" (8:5), with the same Hebrew verb. And the Song's last two verses speak first to a woman and then to a man, ending with "Come away, my beloved!" (8:14), whose likeness of a gazelle on the mountains shares its Hebrew words with 2:17.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions