Shir HaShirim 4:1-2 And Transitional Multivalence

Based on several examples that I have seen, it seems that the author of Shir HaShirim makes use of a method I would label transitional multivalence. I previously defined multivalence in general as "the assertion that of multiple possible interpretations of a verse, all were intended by the author, perhaps in the form of deliberate ambiguity in order to show complexity of thought." (Quote from here -- follow the link for two examples of what I call multivalence via resonance.)

By transitional multivalence, I mean that there is a sequence of imagery, and rather than abruptly shifting from one image to the next, one image alludes to the next in a multivalent way.

A good example of this is Shir HaShirim 4:1-2:

א הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי, הִנָּךְ יָפָה--עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים, מִבַּעַד לְצַמָּתֵךְ; שַׂעְרֵךְ כְּעֵדֶר הָעִזִּים, שֶׁגָּלְשׁוּ מֵהַר גִּלְעָד.	1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil; thy hair is as a flock of goats, that trail down from mount Gilead.
ב שִׁנַּיִךְ כְּעֵדֶר הַקְּצוּבוֹת, שֶׁעָלוּ מִן-הָרַחְצָה: שֶׁכֻּלָּם, מַתְאִימוֹת, וְשַׁכֻּלָה, אֵין בָּהֶם.	2 Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes all shaped alike, which are come up from the washing; whereof all are paired, and none faileth among them.

What does שֶׁגָּלְשׁוּ mean in verse 1? Rashi explains that it means bald, citing the Targum to Vayikra 13:41:

מא וְאִם מִפְּאַת פָּנָיו, יִמָּרֵט רֹאשׁוֹ--גִּבֵּחַ הוּא, טָהוֹר הוּא.	41 And if his hair be fallen off from the front part of his head, he is forehead-bald; yet is he clean.
מב וְכִי-יִהְיֶה בַקָּרַחַת אוֹ בַגַּבַּחַת, נֶגַע לָבָן אֲדַמְדָּם--צָרַעַת פֹּרַחַת הִוא, בְּקָרַחְתּוֹ אוֹ בְגַבַּחְתּוֹ.	42 But if there be in the bald head, or the bald forehead, a reddish-white plague, it is leprosy breaking out in his bald head, or his bald forehead.

the Targum for which is:

יג,מא וְאִם מִפְּאַת פָּנָיו, יִמָּרֵט רֹאשׁוֹ--גִּבֵּחַ הוּא, טָהוֹר הוּא.	וְאִם מִקֳּבֵיל אַפּוֹהִי, יִתַּר סְעַר רֵישֵׁיהּ--גְּלִישׁ הוּא, דְּכֵי הוּא.
יג,מב וְכִי-יִהְיֶה בַקָּרַחַת אוֹ בַגַּבַּחַת, נֶגַע לָבָן אֲדַמְדָּם--צָרַעַת פֹּרַחַת הִוא, בְּקָרַחְתּוֹ אוֹ בְגַבַּחְתּוֹ.	וַאֲרֵי יְהֵי בְּקַרְחוּתָא אוֹ בִּגְלֵישׁוּתָא, מַכְתָּשׁ חִיוָר סָמוֹק--סְגִירוּת סָגְיָא הִיא, בְּקַרְחוּתֵיהּ אוֹ בִּגְלֵישׁוּתֵיהּ.

The reference is to the mountain of Gilead, which becomes bald as the flocks of sheep descend from it.

Gordis and Hakham, meanwhile, render trailing down, Gordis noting that the root is used in Rabbinic Hebrew to refer to boiling water as well as to luxurious tresses {of hair}. Thus Rashi and modern scholars are essentially in agreement as to the implication of the sheep trailing down the mountain, though not the etymology or meaning of the phrase.

But note that making something bald is significant in terms of hair and in terms of sheep as well. It could be a synonym for "sheared." The mountain of Gilead actually has a connection with shearing of sheep in the Israelite mind, which is mentioned by Rashi. After all, the very name of Gilead comes from the Yaakov/Lavan incident (Bereishit 31:47). In that incident, while Lavan went off to shear his sheep, Yaakov ran off towards the mountain of Gilead (Bereishit 31:19-21):

יט וְלָבָן הָלַךְ, לִגְזֹז אֶת-צֹאנוֹ; וַתִּגְנֹב רָחֵל, אֶת-הַתְּרָפִים אֲשֶׁר לְאָבִיהָ.	19 Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.
כ וַיִּגְנֹב יַעֲקֹב, אֶת-לֵב לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי--עַל-בְּלִי הִגִּיד לוֹ, כִּי בֹרֵחַ הוּא.	20 And Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, in that he told him not that he fled.
כא וַיִּבְרַח הוּא וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר-לוֹ, וַיָּקָם וַיַּעֲבֹר אֶת-הַנָּהָר; וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת-פָּנָיו, הַר הַגִּלְעָד.	21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

Let us assume that שֶׁגָּלְשׁוּ means "that trail down," like the moderns. Still, Gilead calls to mind shearing, especially in the context of sheep, and the alternate meaning of balding is there in the back of the reader's mind.

The next verse, 2, states:

ב שִׁנַּיִךְ כְּעֵדֶר הַקְּצוּבוֹת, שֶׁעָלוּ מִן-הָרַחְצָה: שֶׁכֻּלָּם, מַתְאִימוֹת, וְשַׁכֻּלָה, אֵין בָּהֶם.

2 Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes all shaped alike, which are come up from the washing; whereof all are paired, and none faileth among them.

Here we have another simile, this time for the beloved's teeth, which are compared to another image of a flock of sheep, coming from the washing.

In the word שֶׁעָלוּ, we find a match for שֶׁגָּלְשׁוּ. There they trailed down, and here they come up. But what is the meaning of הַקְּצוּבוֹת? JPS renders "all shaped alike," presumably matching מַתְאִימוֹת"paired," later in the verse. We might render "ordered." Two modern scholars, Gordis and Hakham, both explain that הַקְּצוּבוֹת means sheared. (Compare קצצ.) Rashi does not assign this meaning to הַקְּצוּבוֹת.

When two scholars change the meaning of one word from "sheared" in one verse, and then change the meaning of another word to "sheared" in the next, something is afoot, but neither scholar takes note of the curiosity.

In fact, הַקְּצוּבוֹת means "sheared," and שֶׁגָּלְשׁוּ means "that trail down." However, in the first verse and image, there is anticipation and preparation for the next image by means of a multivalent meaning. This is transitional multivalence.

הַקְּצוּבוֹת may well also carry the implication of "ordered" or "all alike," multivalently, in order to anticipate the מַתְאִימוֹת which follows. It also bears the idea of "gathered together," since via metathesis, we would arrive at hakebhutzot. Later, in the next chapter, we see that a similar word refers to locks of hair - in Shir HaShirim 5:2, קְוֻצּוֹתַי רְסִיסֵי לָיְלָה, "my locks with the drops of the night." Rashi in fact changes the vav to a bet in his commentary on that verse.

Perhaps the best evidence that the author engages in this type of transition can be seen in Shir HaShirim 4:12:

יב גַּן נָעוּל, אֲחֹתִי כַלָּה; גַּל נָעוּל, מַעְיָן חָתוּם.

12 A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

She is a garden, then a spring, and then a fountain, all shut up. As Gordis notes, the spring is the transition between the garden and fountain, as גַּן becomes גַּל. This transition word is also possibly multivalent, with גַּל perhaps forming a dialectal variant of גַּן.

Update: Of course, there is a danger of erroneously seeing transitional multivalence everywhere. When a commentator encounters an unknown word, he often will look to context and assign a similar meaning. If in every such incidence where we give another explanation of the word as one of multivalence, we take the commentator's explanation as multivalence, a transitional, anticipatory multivalence will naturally result. The case at hand is different, for Rashi suggests something akin to shearing in the first verse but not the second, and Gordis and Hakham suggest shearing in the second verse but not the first, and so their explanation is not a result of seeking a parallelism in context in case of doubt. Further, they can each cite a source that uses the word in the way they suggest.