Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 60:10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour…
Ezekiel 16:7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: t…
Luke 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people…
Proverbs 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Song of Solomon 4:5 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Song of Solomon 7:7-8 This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
John Gill on Song of Solomon 8:10
I am a wall,.... The words of the little sister, or Gentile church; either wishing she was what was supposed, and desiring to be in a well settled state, "O that I was a wall!" or as asserting (d) that she was in such a state, well walled; God was a wall of fire about her; salvation was appointed as walls and bulwarks to her; she was one of the two walls Christ was a cornerstone unto, and cemented together; and was a wall built up of lively stones, of true believers, built on Christ, the foundation; and established in the doctrine of grace; and constant and immovable in her love to Christ;
and my breasts like towers; round, plump, and high; signifying that she was now marriageable; and the…
I was a virgin, like a wall: The woman affirms that she was chaste in preparation for marriage. • now . . . like towers: The woman describes herself in the language of desirability (cp. 4:4; 7:4, 8) and challenges her brothers’ perception of her as immature.
Rashi on Song of Solomon 8:10
I am a wall. Strong in the love of my Beloved.
And my bosom is like towers. These are the synagogues and the study halls, which nurture Yisroel with words of Torah.
Therefore. When I say this.
I am in his eyes as one who found peace. Like a bride who is found to be perfect שְׁלֵמָה=שָׁלוֹם, and who finds peace in her husband’s house.15See Maseches Pesachim 87a.
Hence, in the Song of Songs it is said: "I am a wall, and my breasts are towers." The wall is the Church and its towers are the priests, who abound in both the word of nature and moral discipline.
I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers, etc. I am rightly called a wall, because I am built of living stones, because I am united by the glue of charity, because I am placed upon an immovable foundation, and because I cannot be overthrown by any battering ram of a heretic. The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His." But there are also among us those who, endowed with greater grace, transcend the general life of the faithful by the special height of their virtues as much as a tower surpasses a wall, and who nourish the little ones and those still weak in faith with the milk of simpler exhortation, as though with breasts, and who repel all the darts of the perverse with their excellent power of speech, like a firm tower: all of which I could not have by my own freedom of will, but I received before Him, as one finding peace, by His gracious gift, that is, from the time He deigned to grant me the gift of His peace through the word of reconciliation. For neither by my own effort was I able to come before Him, from whom I had greatly departed, nor to recover the peace I had lost; but I most gratefully accepted the peace offered freely by Him. From the time He generously granted me this gift, I immediately grew in the virtues, and I profess that I am rightly compared to a wall, and that my breasts are like the towers, since I steadfastly repel hostile forces from harming that city, and I strive to raise new peoples for it always: because I could not have done this except through the gift of the peace granted by Him, I am pleased to speak further of the power of His peace.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Towers · Illustrative of: The grace and dignity of the church — Illustrative of: The grace and dignity of the church
Walls · Of cities: Had towers built on them — Of cities: Had towers built on them
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
