1. Cantique des Cantiques 8:12 (NEG79)
  2. Explication du texte

Why may Solomon have the thousand and the keepers two hundred?

Cantique des Cantiques 8:12 (NEG79)

12 Ma vigne, qui est à moi, je la garde. A toi, Salomon, les mille sicles, Et deux cents à ceux qui gardent le fruit!

Even if the person who pays the fee of a thousand pieces of silver is Solomon himself, it is she who owns her vineyard. In other words, she is saying, Keep your money O king, except what you owe your employees (two hundred pieces of silver), the keepers of the vineyard..1

Multiplying wives means forfeiting the true peace and wholeness to be found in a single-hearted commitment between one man and one woman.2

The silver (kesep) that symbolizes throughout Song of Solomon 8:8–12 the possession of the female by the male is evidently despised by the young woman. Money has nothing to do with true love (see Song of Solomon 8:7). She will not be possessed by any man other than the one she has chosen and who has chosen her (Song of Solomon 8:6).3